Love Don't Die
by Miss E Charlotte
Summary: Like everyone else, Meredith was devastated when Oliver, her best friend, disappeared. Now that he is back will something finally happened between them or will he keep pushing her away to protect his secret. Oliver/OC
1. Lost and Found

_**Chapter One - Lost and Found  
**_

* * *

_"Smile, honey." Meredith heard her father say, as he pointed the camera at her._

_"I am." Meredith said through clenched teeth._

_"Smile bigger. This is your graduation. You are now free woman." Her father said, trying to get her to smile more._

_"Just take the picture, dad." Meredith said with a laugh. She wasn't use to being in front of the camera, she was usually the one taking the pictures._

_Her father snapped a picture as she laughed, then lowered the camera as he said,"there we go. Beautiful."_

_Meredith laughed again with a shake of her head, as she began to walk over toward her dad, planning to take the camera from him, but before she could reach him, someone ran up behind her, wrapped their arms around her waist and lifted her in the air while spinning her around. It was one of her best friends, Oliver Queen._

_"We did it, Mere-Bear! We graduated. We are free!" Oliver called out happily, as he spun her around a few more times, her long, light brown hair flying around her face._

_"Easy, Ollie. Put me down!" Meredith called out between laughter._

_"Yeah, you might want to put her down. She looks like she is going to barf." Tommy Merlyn, their other best friend, said, as he walked over toward them with Laurel Lance, Oliver's on again/off again girlfriend. At the moment, they were very much on, which wasn't the best news for Meredith, but as long as Oliver was happy, she could pretend to be happy for him._

_"Shut it, Merlyn." Meredith said playfully, as she shot him a dirty look. "Although he is right. You should put me down before I barf on you or kick your ass. Hell, I might just do both." She added, speaking to Oliver._

_"Yeah, like I am really afraid of you, Mere." Oliver said, as he sat her feet down on the ground._

_She opened her mouth to say something sarcastic back, but before she could, her dad called out her name, sending her a warning look after hearing her cuss. She mumbled out an apology, then watched as he walked off to talk to the other parents._

_"Ooh, someone is in trouble." Oliver teasingly whispered in her ear, causing her to slap his arm and push him away from her._

_He continued to laugh, as he walked over to Laurel, and wrapped his arm around her waist, as Laurel looked up at him before giving him a sweet kiss. Meredith glanced away from them, her heart not being able to stand it when they did things like that. Tommy caught her eye and raised his eyebrows, knowing what she was thinking. He knew about her crush on Oliver, although he would never tell anyone, which she was grateful._

_"So.." Tommy called out, breaking up the kissing couple for Meredith's sake. Once he had everyone's attention, he added,"are we celebrating tonight?"_

_"Hell.." Meredith began to call out, then quickly glanced around, making sure her dad wasn't in earshot, once she saw he was still talking to the other parents, she turned back to look at her friends and said a little quieter,"hell yeah."_

_"Wow! I just can't believe we finished. We all graduated, together." Laurel said with a smile._

_"Yeah, that really surprised me." Meredith said. She pointed toward Tommy and Oliver as she added,"I just knew you two were going to fail."_

_"So did I." Tommy said with a laugh._

_"But we did it."Oliver added, as he playfully punched Tommy in the arm, then wrapped his other arm around Meredith's shoulder, now having both girls on either side of him, he continued,"now we are all done with school and can party 24/7."_

_"Maybe you three can, but I'll be heading for college in the fall." Laurel said, as she stepped away from the group._

_"That's ok, the three musketeers will be hitting the bars, day and night. Am I right?" Oliver asked, as he hugged Meredith against him and laid a hand on Tommy's shoulder._

_While Tommy nodded at his question, Meredith stepped away from him, as she said,"sorry guys, I have to bow out from the constant partying too."_

_"What - What do you mean? Why?" Oliver asked confused._

_"I'm going to college too." Meredith answered._

_"What?" Tommy called out._

_"Why?" Oliver added, then said,"I thought we were taking a year off, just having fun and stuff."_

_"That's yours and Tommy's plan. Mine is to be... something. I'm just not sure what yet." Meredith explained, then added,"I can't keep partying my life away."_

_"Why not? We have years to figure out what we want to be, what we want to do." Oliver pointed out._

_"We're not promised forever, Ollie." Meredith said back. Before any more could be said, she heard someone called out her name. She turned her head to the side and smiled when she saw it was her eight year old cousin, Jayde._

_The little girl ran over toward her, jumping into her arms. Meredith hugged her, then waved bye to her friends before walking away to go talk to her father and Jayde's mother, never realizing how true her words really were. _

Meredith snapped awake with a small gasp. She glanced over at her alarm clock seeing that she still had hours before her alarm would go off, but it didn't matter. There was no way she could go back to sleep now. She never could after having a dream involving Oliver, which happened a lot in the five years that he was gone, lost at sea, dead, however you wanted to say it.

She mainly went with '_gone_'. It sounded better than lost. Lost made it seem like he was just misplaced and just needed to be found, where gone just made it sound like he was away for now but would be back, even though she knew that wasn't possible, it was still better than the other word, dead. That was a word she could never say.

She rolled over from her side to her back, looking up at the ceiling, watching shadows pass across the dark room when ever a car happened to drive down the road, going past her apartment building. She had planned to just lay there, thinking about her '_gone_' friend and wiping the tears away, until she felt something jump on to the bed, followed by a soft head pushing against her hand, wanting her to pet it.

Meredith leaned up a little and looked down to see it was her orange cat, Jager. She smiled then said,"hey, buddy. Couldn't sleep either?"

The cat banged against her hand a few more times until she began to pet him. She sat up in the bed, then picked him up, setting him in her lap. She continued to pet him, his soft purrs slowly calming her down, but when he began to nibble on her fingers, she chuckled then said,"I guess someone is hungry."

She picked the cat up again and sat him down on the floor, then stood up and made her way out of her bedroom and into the kitchen. She got a pot of coffee going, knowing she was going to need it that day to stay awake, then opened Jager a can of food.

After feeding her cat and giving him fresh water, she walked into the living room, turning on the tv. With the volume low, she walked back into the kitchen as the pot of coffee finished. She poured her a cup, then walked back into the living room. She brought the mug up to her lips, blowing on the hot coffee, as a breaking news bulletin came across the screen.

As she read the words, '_Lost Billionaire Found_', she dropped the cup, not caring that it shattered into a million of pieces or that hot coffee spilled everywhere.

She grabbed the remote, turning the tv up, as the anchor was in the middle of his story.

Oliver was alive. He wasn't gone anymore, he was finally back.

_- {o0o} -_

_"So, it's really true? He's really back?" _Jayde asked over the phone.

After calming down and cleaning up her mess, Meredith quickly got dressed and headed for the hospital, calling her cousin, who was living in Africa with her aunt, on the way to give her the news.

"He's really back." Meredith said, a smile appearing on her face, as she parked her car and exited it.

_"How is he? Where has he been? What happened?" _Jayde asked all at once.

"I don't have many details. They didn't say much on the news, just that he was found by fishermen in the North China sea," Meredith said, then added,"I am at the hospital now. I don't even know if he can have visitors yet, but I just ... I have to see him."

_"I get it, Mere. He's your best friend. Your one true love." _Jayde joke, saying the last part in an over-dramatic voice.

"Ok, I wouldn't go that far, Jay." Meredith said with a laugh. She never planned to tell her cousin about her feeling for Oliver until she caught her years ago crying about losing him, all of her feelings spilling over on to the younger girl.

_"Oh, don't lie. I'm sure you wrote - 'Mere loves Ollie' - on every sheet of paper you come across." _Jayde joked, happy to hear her cousin laughing after all these years.

"Ok, I am getting off here and going to visit my _friend _Oliver." Meredith said, stressing the word '_friend'. _"I'll keep you updated." She added, before she ended the call and walked into the hospital building.

Meredith walked to the front desk, asking what floor Oliver was on, then tried not to cuss the woman out when she wouldn't give the information out. She knew the woman was just doing her job, but she needed to see him, damn it.

She clenched her jaw and slammed her hands on the counter, causing the woman behind the desk to jump in her seat. Meredith opened her mouth to say something, until she heard someone call out her name.

She glanced off to the side and saw Moira, Oliver's mother. Without another word to the woman behind the desk, Meredith rushed over to the older woman, who had just returned to the hospital. She had went home for a short time, to update Walter and Thea on Oliver and grab him a set of clothes to change into.

"Oh, Meredith, honey, I completely forgot to call you." Moira began to say, apologizing to the younger woman.

"It's ok, Moira." Meredith said with a shake of the head. "I know with everything going on it probably just slipped your mind. I saw it on the news and rushed right over here. How is he?" She added.

"He's ..." Moira began to say, not sure how to answer that. After all the injuries the doctor said he had, not counting everything he could have went through alone on that island for five years, things could be a lot worst. At least they had him back. She just hoped being around his family and loved ones will help with his recovery. "He's alive." She simply said.

Meredith smiled at hearing those words. They are words she thought she would never hear, especially pertaining to Oliver.

"Can I see him? I mean, is he allowed visitors yet?" She questioned.

"Of course. Come with me, dear." Moira said, as she laid a hand on her back to lead her toward the elevators.

The two woman rode up to the floor he was on, then exited the elevator and walked down a long hallway. Moira stopped in front of the door, then looked at Meredith for a moment before opening the door and walking in with Meredith walking in behind her. Oliver was standing in front of the window, a lot like the night before when Moira first walked into the hospital room.

"Oliver?" Meredith softly said. She lowered her eyebrows in concern when he didn't respond. She glanced over at Moira, who nodded her head at the younger girl, telling her to try again, as she light pushed her forward.

Meredith took a few steps toward him, her eyes scanning over his body. He looked a lot more tone than the last time she saw him. He was always in good shape, for a party boy, but that Oliver was definitely gone. She couldn't even imagine all the horrors he had been involved in while he was away. She came to a stop behind him, then whisper out,"Ollie?"

Oliver turned around to face her, his eyes glanced over her, making her worry he had forgotten all about her. Could he be suffering from memory lost too?

She opened her mouth to tell him who she was, but before she could say a word, his eyes soften as he whispered,"Meredith."

"You remember me." Meredith said with a relieved sigh, as she rushed forward to hug him.

"Of course I do, Mere-Bear." Oliver whispered, as he wrapped one arm around her waist while the other rested on the back of her head, cradling her head, as he held her close.

After the two broke apart, and Meredith took a step or two back, Moira spoke up, telling Oliver he was being released and could go home. A small smile appeared on his face at the thought of finally going home, something he had dreamed of doing for years.

"Are you coming?" Oliver asked, as he looked over at Meredith, taking her by surprise.

"Oh, um, I thought maybe you just wanted to be around family right now." She said, as she looked over at Oliver then over toward Moira.

"You are family." Moira pointed out, as she smiled at the younger girl.

Meredith smiled back, then felt Oliver take her hand. She looked over at him, the two locking eyes, as he said,"I want you there."

"Then I'll be there." Meredith whispered, as she squeezed his hand. If he needed her, there was no way she would leave his side.

_- {o0o} -_

Many minutes later, the three arrived at the Queen mansion and walked into the house. Oliver had a long metal trunk, that he insisted on carrying, in one hand, while holding on to Meredith's hand again with his other one, like earlier at the hospital. The two always had a touchy friendship, holding hands, hugging and cuddling, so him holding on to her like he was, wasn't very surprising to anyone.

Once inside the house, he sat the trunk down, as Walter walked into the room and over toward him with a smile on his face.

"It's damn good to see you." Walter said, as he came to a stop in front of Oliver and Meredith.

Moira and Meredith looked up at Oliver, wanting to see if he remembered him, as Walter held out his hand and said,"it's Walter. Walter Steele."

"You remember Walter, your father's friend from the company." Moira said, as the two men shook hands.

Oliver didn't say anything back, instead he looked over Walter's shoulders, then walked over to one of their maids, pulling Meredith with him.

"It's good to see you, Raisa." Oliver said, as he stopped in front of the older woman.

"Welcome home, Mr. Oliver." Raisa said to him, then she looked over at Meredith, as she added,"it's good to see you, Ms. Meredith, we missed you last week."

"I know, I'm sorry I couldn't make it." Meredith said to her. She saw Oliver looking at her with a confused look on his face, causing her to look over at him, as she added,"I always tried to have dinner with your family once a week while you were ... away, but sometimes my schedule wouldn't allow it."

Oliver nodded his head in understanding, as Raisa looked over their shoulders to speak to Moira and Walter,"Mr. Merlyn phoned. He wants to join you for dinner."

"Wonderful." Moira said, as they heard a door from upstairs open.

Meredith looked over toward the stairs with a smile on her face, she knew who was coming down to greet them, someone she knew had missed Oliver just as much as she had, his, not so little sister, Thea.

Oliver ignored his mother's questions, as he walked over toward the stairs while Thea walked down them to meet him. The siblings smiled at each other before Thea rushed down the stairs and said,"I knew it. I knew you were alive."

At the bottom of the stairs she threw herself into her brother's arms, as she added,"I missed you so much."

"You were with me the whole time." Oliver whispered back, as he continued to hold on to his sister.

Meredith felt tears fill her eyes as she watched the siblings reunite. She almost wanted to pinch herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming. This was almost too good to be true. Now that her best friend was back she felt whole again, like a piece of her heart wasn't missing anymore. She had her Ollie back and she couldn't be happier.

She felt her cell phone vibrating in her front pants pocket and pulled it out, seeing that it was her boss. With a groan she announced she would be right back, then made her way outside to answer the call. After being yelled at by her boss, Donnie, and explaining to him she had an emergency but would be at work the next day, she finally ended the call and walked back into the house.

She saw Raisa, who nodded her head toward the living room, where everyone was sitting, well everyone but Oliver, she noticed as she entered the room.

"Is everything ok, dear?" Moira asked her.

"Yeah, just a call from my boss. I kind of skipped out on work today and he wasn't too happy with me." Meredith explained.

"Your best friend coming back from the dead is a good reason to skip work if you ask me." Thea pointed out.

"I agree, I can have a chat with your boss if you need it." Walter suggested.

"No, it's ok. He'll get over it." Meredith said, with a wave of her hand. "He knows I'm one of the best photographers he has. He needs me just as much as I need the job." She added. It was true, there was only one other photographer at the newspaper she worked at, but that girl could barely work a camera, her only job requirement was that she was hot. That was the only reason Donnie hired the girl and kept her around, but at least she knew what she was doing. She was a damn good photographer and even a good journalist too, when she was actually given a story to write, which wasn't often.

"So where's Oliver?" Meredith asked, when the conversation of her job was over.

"He went upstairs to shower, but he wanted you to meet him in his room." Moira answered.

"OK." Meredith mumbled, with a short nod. She told the others '_bye_', then made her way upstairs to Oliver's bedroom. Out of all the times she had been at the Queen's since his disappearance, she had never went into his bedroom, it was just too hard to be around all his stuff with him not there, but now that he was back, it was like déjà vu stepping inside the room.

She glanced around, a smile on her face, the room was exactly how she remembered it, causing tons of memories to hit her at once, but before she could get to lost in the past, Oliver walked out of his bathroom, with just a towel around his waist.

Meredith's eyes widen in shock when she saw him, then quickly turned around to give him privacy, her heart hurting for him when she saw all the scars on his body. She wiped a tear from her eye, then said,"damn it, I'm sorry Ollie. Your mom said you wanted me to come up here and I didn't even think to knock."

"It's ok." Oliver said, as he grabbed some clothes and quickly got dressed.

Meredith folded her arms across her chest and closed her eyes, trying not to imagine his bare chest. Even with the scars, he was still in very good shape and she couldn't help but imagine running her hands over his skin, tracing each scar. Giving each one a bit of love and attention as she...

Before she could get to lost in her own thoughts, Oliver walked up behind her, laying a hand on her shoulder to tell her it was ok to turn around. She took a deep breath, then slowly turned around, her eyes still closed, causing Oliver to chuckle.

"I told you, I'm dressed now, you can open your eyes." Oliver said, as he laid a hand on the side of her face, waiting for her to open her eyes.

"You sure?" Meredith asked, as she squeezed her eyes tighter.

"I'm sure, now open those blue eyes, Mere." Oliver softly said. She slowly opened her eyes, looking into his, as the two stared at each other. He smiled, then said,"now there are those eyes that I missed looking into."

Meredith smiled at his comment then bit her bottom lip, as she looked away, breaking contact. It's not that she didn't love looking into his eyes, but moments like this was causing the feelings she had for him long ago to come rushing back. She didn't want to go back there though, she didn't want to be the loser again who was in love with her best friend, but never had a chance with him.

"So, why did you want me to meet you up here?" She questioned, as she took a step away from him, putting some distance between them.

"I figured we could hang out until dinner time." Oliver answered. He turned around and walked over to his bed, slowly sitting down, as he looked down at the old comforter that has been on his bed for years. He laid back against the pillows with a sigh, he never thought he would be able to lay on his soft bed ever again. He looked up at Meredith and patted a spot beside him, as he said,"come on. We got a lot to catch up on."

"Yeah, we do." Meredith said, as she walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge of the other side. She laid back against the pillows, right beside Oliver, the two laying still and just enjoying the moment. She felt him reach out and take her hand, causing her to smile, as he intertwined their fingers together, just like they always did before.

In this moment it was like nothing had changed, like he had not be gone for five years. This was the moment they both have waited for, the moment when they had each other back in their lives, and it was finally here.

_- {o0o} -_

Oliver and Meredith laid side by side, talking for hours until the two dozed off, the days events tiring them. They weren't sure how long they were sleeping for when they heard a knock at the bedroom door, waking them both up. Oliver looked down at the girl in his arms for a moment, actually surprised he fell asleep. Cause of events on the island, he didn't sleep much anymore and definitely not a restful sleep, but it was just something about being around Meredith, having her by his side again, that calmed him.

He didn't think about that too much more as they both tried to sit up, their arms and legs tangled up together, as the bedroom door opened and their other friend, Tommy, walked into the room.

"Whoa, blast from the past." Tommy commented at seeing them together. The two cuddling together and taking naps was not unusual.

"Shut up, Merlyn." Meredith groaned, as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

Oliver, finally getting them untangled, stood up from the bed and made his way over toward his best friend. Tommy threw out his arms as he said,"what did I tell you? Yachts suck."

Oliver chuckled at his friend, as the two men hugged, then he said,"I missed you, buddy."

Tommy smiled, as he slapped his back in a friendly way, then took a step back, as he said,"the three musketeers are back!"

Oliver laughed at his comment, as the two looked over at Meredith, who had laid back down and was cuddled up to a pillow with her eyes closed. Tommy looked over at Oliver as he asked,"is she asleep again?"

Oliver took a few steps toward the bed, seeing her slowly breath in and out, then looked back at Tommy as he said,"I think so."

He looked at the sleeping girl in his bed, then nodded his head toward the door, as he whispered,"we should probably ..." Hinting that they should just let her sleep, but Tommy had other plans.

"Mere!" Tommy yelled out, as he walked over to the bed and shook her, waking her up.

"What? God, Tommy, go away." Meredith mumbled, as she threw a pillow at him.

"Do I need to get some water?" Tommy joked. He remembered she use to threaten her cousin, Jayde with water if she wouldn't wake up.

"Do I need to kick your ass?" Meredith said back.

"Nah, I'm not really in an ass kicking mood right now." Tommy said. "I am hungry though, so get your ass up." He added, as he shook the bed again.

Oliver stood off to the side, watching his two friends banter back and forth, he had even missed that while he was away.

As Tommy continued to shake the bed, Meredith began to kick out with her leg, hoping to connect with something and finally kicked his hand. He pulled his hand away with a hiss, as he shook it.

"Alright that's it. Get up now, Sleeping Beauty." Tommy said, as he reached out and grabbed her leg, pulling her down toward the end of the bed where he was standing.

"Oh, my God! Tommy! What are you doing?" Meredith called out, as he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder.

"Ollie, you better get ..."

"Don't pull Oliver into this." Tommy said, interrupting her. "He's not going to help you." He added.

"I wasn't asking for his help for me, I was asking for you." Meredith hissed, then added,"cause if you don't put me down in three seconds, you are getting the biggest ass kicking of your life, Merlyn."

"One ..." Meredith began to count.

"Nice to see some things haven't changed." Oliver said, as he continued to watch them. Sometimes you would swear the two were siblings the way they fought, but it was always like that. They would argue and get mad at each other from time to time, but deep down, they loved each other.

"... Two ..."

"You better put her down before she hurts you." Oliver warned.

"I'm not scared." Tommy said, as he bounced the girl on his shoulders, causing her to groan out loud.

"Last chance, Merlyn." Meredith said. She waited a moment to see if he would put her down, but when he didn't she yelled out,"three."

Tommy began to laugh as she kicked her legs, trying to get him to loosen his grip, but when that didn't work, she balled her fist, getting ready to punch him in the back until Oliver stepped forward to stop her.

"Whoa, ok, that's enough." Oliver said, as he grabbed Meredith and pulled her from Tommy's shoulder.

"You better be glad Ollie stopped me before I gave you that beating you so deserve." Meredith said, as she stood beside Oliver while shooting Tommy a dirty look.

"Please, I'm not scared of you, Mere. I never have been." Tommy said, then added,"deep down we both know you wouldn't hurt a fly. You're soft."

Meredith angrily groaned out loud and went to jump on Tommy until Oliver quickly wrapped an arm around her waist, stopping her in mid-air. He pulled her toward him then whispered in her ear,"shh, it's OK. Calm down, Mere-Bear.

Having him so close and hearing his soothing words in her ear instantly calmed her down. She leaned back against Oliver, her body relaxed now.

Oliver kept an arm around her, then looked over at Tommy as he said,"you should know better than to come between her and sleep. She turns evil when she misses sleep."

"I'm not evil." Meredith said with a pout.

"You can be a tad bitchy when you are sleepy... or hungry." Tommy pointed out.

Meredith gasp dramatically at his words, then glanced over her shoulders to see Oliver nodding his head in agreement. She threw her elbow back, playfully hitting Oliver in the stomach, then began to walked toward the bedroom door when he released her.

She turned around to face the boys, taking a few steps backwards, as she said,"you know, I can say I did not miss this. You two ganging up on me."

"You know we love you Mere." Tommy called out.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Meredith mumbled, as she turned back around.

"Where you going?" Oliver asked, as he stepped up to stand beside Tommy.

"To eat. I'm hungry." Meredith answered, as she opened the bedroom door.

"Good. Now you will stop being so bitchy." Tommy said with a laugh. He quickly ducked when he saw her grab something and throw it at him, only causing him to laugh harder.

"Yeah, things definitely haven't changed." Oliver said, smiling, as he walked toward the door with Tommy behind him.

The three friends made their way downstairs and into the dining room, where Moira, Walter and Thea were waiting for them. Oliver and Meredith sat side by side on one side of the table, while Tommy sat on the other side beside Thea, with Walter and Moira sitting together at the end of the table, in their own little world.

After the food was served everyone began talking about random things. Meredith updated Oliver on current events and all the city gossip, while Tommy updated him on other things he had missed, like super bowl winners, the current president and what happened on 'Lost', but the table went silent when Thea spoke up, asking him what it was like on the island.

Meredith froze, her fork inches from her mouth, as she looked over at Oliver, as he simply answered,"cold."

"Tomorrow, you and me, we're doing the city." Tommy announced, quickly changing the subject. He glanced over at Meredith, pointing his fork at her, as he added,"you're coming too."

"I would love to, but I can't." Meredith said, not missing the disappoint look that came across Oliver's face. "I got to work tomorrow. I already laid out today and Donnie is not happy with me." She added.

She looked over at Oliver as she mouthed out,"I'm sorry."

"It's ok." He whispered back, as he laid a hand on her knee under the table, causing her to jump for a moment in surprise.

She looked up to see a small smile on Oliver's face, as he lightly squeezed her knee then removed his hand, and just like that the moment was over, his attention now on the other end of the table.

"I was hoping to swing by the office afterwards." He said at his mother and Walter.

"Well, there's plenty of time for all that." Walter said, then added,"Queen Consolidated isn't going anywhere."

Before anything else could be said, Raisa tripped, fortunately for her, Oliver was quick to catch her. She quickly apologized to him as she stood up straight, but what surprised everyone was when Oliver began to speak to her in Russian.

Meredith's mouth dropped open in shock, as Tommy spoke up and asked,"dude, you speak Russian?"

"I didn't realize you took Russian at college, Oliver." Walter added.

"I didn't realize you wanted to sleep with my mother, Walter." Oliver said back, causing everyone to look at each other, as an awkward silence filled the air.

This time it was Meredith, who placed a hand on Oliver's knee, giving it a small squeeze, hoping to comfort him.

"I didn't say anything." Thea said, as her mother looked over at her.

"She didn't have to." Oliver stated.

"Oliver, Walter and I are married, and I don't want you to think that either one of us did anything to disrespect your father." Moira explained, as she reached out to lay her hand on top of Walter's hand.

"We both believed that Robert, like you, was, uh, well, gone." Walter added.

"It's fine." Oliver softly said. He stood up from his chair, as he asked,"may I be excused?"

Moira gave him a small nod and watched as he began to walk pass the table. As Tommy reminded him about their plans for the next day, Meredith watched him closely, seeing the look on his face, seeing that he was having a hard time accepting all the changes that were happening around him. They all had time to adjust to things, but everything seemed so sudden to him.

Once he left the room, Meredith laid the napkin from her lap on to the table and stood up, excusing herself, as she left the room to check on Oliver. She passed by Raisa, who told her Oliver went through the kitchen and out the back door. Meredith nodded her head to thank her, then made her way outside, seeing Oliver standing on the patio, looking up at the night sky with his hands in his pockets.

"Hey." Meredith softly said, announcing her presence as she walked up behind him, not wanting to scare him.

"Hey." Oliver said back, as he saw her stop to stand beside him.

"Are you ok?" Meredith asked, as she wrapped her arm through his, intertwining their arms together.

"Yeah. I'm just... I was surprised to hear she remarried. A lot has changed." Oliver answered, as he removed his hand from his pants pocket, causing her arm to fall. She was worried for a moment that he was pulling away from her until she felt him slip his arm around her waist, causing her to smile, as he pulled her against his side.

"I know it's hard Ollie, I thought it was weird at first too, but I've had time to get use to it. I'm sure after some time you will too." Meredith suggested.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Oliver said, with a sigh. He wanted to be happy for his mom, it was just a shock to find out. He had to realize while he was gone, the world didn't stand still. His loved ones changed and moved on. He had to accept that.

"She really did love your dad, Ollie." Meredith said, then added,"losing him and you was very hard on her and Walter helped, but she never stopped loving your dad. You both were never far from her mind all these years."

Oliver nodded his head at her comment, accepting it as the truth. He knew she wouldn't lie to him. He glanced up at the sky, staring in silence for a moment, before asking,"what about you?"

"Hmm?" Meredith asked, as she looked over at him with a confused expression on her face.

"What helped you while I was gone?" Oliver asked.

"Oh, wow, I uh, I don't know. I guess work. Believe it or not, I have turned into a bit of a workaholic. Today is actually the first day I have taken off in a while." Meredith explained, then added,"Jay helped a lot some too, before she left." She paused for a moment, looking up at the stars, before quietly admitting,"but honestly, I don't know if anything ever really did help." She glanced over at him, as she whispered,"I thought about you all the time, Ollie."

"I thought about you too." Oliver quietly said back, as he turned his head to look at her.

The two looked at each other for a moment, a smile upon both of their lips, until he cleared his throat and said,"I'm going to go upstairs. It's been a long day."

Meredith nodded her head in understanding then closed her eyes, as he kissed the side of her head, keeping his lips pressed against her a little longer than expected. She had really missed this. Missed having his close, missed his touch. She had really missed her best friend.

She felt him pull away and walk toward the door, but before he could walk back inside the house, she turned around and called out his name, something heavily weighing on her and she just had to get it out.

"Yeah?" Oliver asked, as he turned back around to face her.

"I'm sorry, Ollie." Meredith whispered, as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"For what?" Oliver asked, confused.

"For-For what I said before you left." Meredith said, referring to the fight they had before he went on the Queen's Gambit. "I never should have said those things to you. I swear I didn't mean them. That moment has haunted me since then and I ..."

"Hey, it's ok." Oliver said, interrupting her, as he walked over to her, laying his hands on either side of her face and forcing her to look at him. "I was never mad at you about what you said, besides you were right, I did need to grow up, and I never should have asked you to go with me, not like that. I knew how you felt for me then and I tried to take advantage of that and our friendship. I'm the one who is sorry and I really am, Mere. I'm sorry."

Meredith felt more tears fall down her face at his words, she laid her hands on top of his, which were still resting on the side of her face, as she smiled and said,"I am so happy you are back, Ollie."

"Me too, Mere. Me too." Oliver said, as he pulled her toward him to hug her. A sob she had been holding back finally escaped, the days events catching up to her. She was finally back in her best friends arms, and there was nowhere else she would rather be.

_- {o0o} -_

_a/n - hello readers! Months ago I became obsessed with Arrow and decided to do a story. I know a lot of people are Oliver/Felicity fans, myself included, but this is not going to be a story about them. If that is what you are looking for I apologize. This will be a Oliver/OC story. The character of Jayde, belongs to my friend,Iris RainbowWolf ,she is also doing an Arrow story that will be posted at some point. Her story will include Meredith as well. The two stories will have some similarities, but mine will be more about Meredith with some Jayde thrown in, where hers will be more about Jayde with Meredith thrown in. Hopefully that is not too confusing lol. _

_Anyways, hope you enjoyed the first chapter. I will get the next one out soon. Don't forget you can follow me on tumblr, I, sometimes, post sneak peeks and post other things about my stories. Link is on my profile. Happy Reading =}_


	2. What Did You See?

_**Chapter 2 - What Did You See?  
**_

* * *

After a long and emotional day before, Meredith wished she could have slept in, but she couldn't. No, she had to get up early to be at work by six. She was actually surprised to wake up feeling refresh that morning and realized she actually slept through the night for the first time in five years. With Oliver back, her nights weren't plagued with nightmares and with '_what might have been_' scenarios, no instead, her dreams were sweet and peaceful.

She quickly turned the alarm off as it began to ring, then sat up, stretching her arms above her head, a smile appeared on her lips, which only grew when her cat, Jager, jumped up on the bed.

She picked up the cat, placing him in her lap, as she said,"hey, buddy, beautiful morning, huh?" The cat yawned in reply, then jumped out of her arms, before curling up against her pillow and closing his eyes.

"Lazy ass." Meredith mumbled, as she stood up from the bed and made her way toward the bathroom.

After a long relaxing shower, she quickly dressed in a pair of black slacks and a nice blouse. She put on a minimum amount of make-up, then pulled her hair back into a bun and made her way into the kitchen. She made some coffee, then laid out some food and fresh water for Jager, before making her way toward the front door, her travel mug full of coffee in her hand, as she left for work.

Several minutes later, she arrived at work with nine minutes to spare, which in her boss, Donnie's mind, meant she was one minute late since he liked for his employees to be there ten minutes earlier. His motto was always,'_if you're not early, then you're late_'.

She rushed inside the building, waving hello to a few co-workers, then went to her desk toward the back of the room, thankful that Donnie never saw her rush in. She quickly got to work, editing pictures for the story she was working on. She had been working on the pictures for several hours, never once looking up, until she heard the sound of high heels walking across the floor, getting closer to her, but even when the person paused beside her desk, she still didn't look up until the person called out her name.

"Hey, Katie, what do you need?" Meredith asked, as she looked up at the other photographer for the paper for a moment, then looked back at her screen.

"Donnie was wondering where the pictures are?" Katie asked.

"They are coming in a few short minutes. Just finishing the edits now." Meredith answered.

"Oh, well, he said he needed them now." Katie argued.

"I'm sure he does, but they're not ready. However in a few minutes, they will be. So tell him to hold on." Meredith said back, never looking away from the computer.

Katie gasped, as she laid a hand over her heart, then said,"I can't tell him that. He is our boss, if I back talk he might fire me."

Meredith looked away from the screen, her eyes glancing over the short skirt and revealing top Katie had on, then said,"trust me, he would never fire you."

"Aw, cause I am such a good photographer?" Katie questioned, with a grin on her face, thinking Meredith was complimenting her.

"You're good at something." Meredith mumbled, as she looked back at the screen.

"What?" Katie asked, not hearing her comment.

"Nothing." Meredith said, as she continued to work.

Katie sat on top of Meredith's desk, swinging her legs back and forth, like a kid, as she glanced around the room. The longer she sat there the more annoyed Meredith became. She looked up from the computer to look at Katie as she asked,"isn't there something else you could be doing?"

"No. Donnie told me to stick with you until you emailed him those pictures." Katie answered.

"Well I could get this finished a lot quicker if you weren't breathing down my neck." Meredith pointed out.

Katie turned her head to look at her, a confused look on her face, as she asked,"how could I be breathing down your neck when I'm all the way over here?"

"No, it's... it's an expression." Meredith explained, as she rolled her eyes at the dumb blonde before looking back at her computer screen. She had just clicked send, when Katie squealed out and hopped down from her desk.

"What now?" Meredith mumbled, but didn't look up.

"Oh. My. God! Is that Oliver Queen? Like, _the_ Oliver Queen?" Katie asked happily, as she bounced up and down in excitement.

"What?" Meredith asked surprised, as she glanced up and saw Oliver and Tommy standing in the front of the room, looking around for her, she would guess. She smiled when her eyes locked with Oliver, who smiled back at her.

"Well, guess I should go welcome our guest." Katie said, as she pulled her shirt down a little lower, showing off even more cleavage.

"No, I got it." Meredith said, as she grabbed her arm to stop her from walking away. "Why don't you go take the pictures of the new stop light that Donnie wants?" She suggested.

Katie gasp then said,"you're giving me an assignment?"

"Yeah, it is all yours." Meredith said with fake enthusiasm. Hoping the girl wouldn't mess up taking a picture of lights. How hard could that be?

"Aw, thanks, Mere-Mere!" Katie happily said, as she hugged Meredith, then quickly walked away, excited to get to work.

Meredith rolled her eyes as she released a breath. She didn't know what she hated most, when the girl hugged her or the terrible nickname. She shook her head then stepped away from her desk and made her way toward her two best friends.

"Aw, looks like you got a new little friend." Tommy joked, referring to the way Katie was acting.

"Ugh, she is so annoying. She's basically a child in a grownups body. The only reason Donnie even hired her was cause she looked good in a tight dress." Meredith complained.

"What's wrong with that?" Tommy asked, shrugging.

"Of course you would have no problems with it." Meredith said, as she looked over at Tommy, then added,"after all you are the guy who started up a fake business just so you can interview hot girls to be your secretary."

"Oh yes..." Tommy said with a laugh, as he thought back to that day, then added,"that was a good day."

"You're a pig." Meredith said to her friend.

"Hey, it wasn't just me. Oliver was in on it too." Tommy said, as he laid his hands on Oliver's shoulders.

"Don't drag me into this." Oliver said, as he held up his hand. "Even though he is right, I was in on it. Actually it was my idea." He added with a laugh.

"You two are hopeless. Why do I even keep you two in my life?" Meredith joked, as she shot both boys a look.

"Cause you love us." Tommy pointed out, as he stepped up beside her and threw an arm around her shoulder.

"Keep telling yourself that, Merlyn." Meredith said, as she pushed his arm off of her. She looked at both men then asked,"so what are you two doing here anyways?"

"We came here to see if we could steal you away." Oliver said with a smile, causing her heart to flip-flop.

"Wow. This reminds me of my first year in college, when you both would come by every weekend to talk me out of going to class to go partying with you two." Meredith said with a laugh, remembering the old days.

"We're not trying to take you partying today." Tommy pointed out.

"Nope. We're just thinking lunch." Oliver added, then asked, "I mean you do get a lunch, right?"

Meredith looked between the two, biting her bottom lip while in deep thought, she really wanted to go, but knew she had a lot to do since she didn't come in the day before. The workaholic in her was making it hard to just leave, it was pleading with her to stay, but every other part of her was itching to spend time with Oliver. She craved being near him, feeling him breath, hearing him laugh, seeing him smile, things she had missed while he was gone.

She was still thinking things through, when she heard someone call out her name, it was her boss and from the tone of his voice, he was not happy with her.

"Meredith! Where the hell are those pictures? They should have been sent to me hours ago." Donnie snapped, as he walked over toward her, ignoring the two men before her, but their eyes were on him, not liking the way he was speaking to their friend.

"I'm sorry, Donnie. I just sent the pictures." Meredith said, then added,"I even wrote an article to go with them, explaining ..."

"I don't care about your opinions, Meredith. I just want the pictures. How hard is that to understand?" Donnie snapped at her, causing her to bite her tongue to keep from snapping back.

In front of her, Oliver balled up his fists, trying to keep himself in control. He knew how amazing Meredith was, she had taken pictures her whole life and was good at what she did. He also knew how smart she was, and knew if she wrote her opinion on something, it was a damn good article.

Oliver cleared his throat, getting the other man's attention, who did a double take when he saw him before saying,"wait, you're Oliver Queen, right?" When Oliver nodded his head, not trusting himself to speak at the moment, Donnie continued,"what are you doing here? You finally decided to come in and let us interview you? A lot of people are interested in your story and we would love to be the ones to tell it."

"No, he .."

"Yes, I am." Oliver said, interrupting Meredith, who shot him a confused look. Oliver winked at her, then turned back to look at Donnie, as he continued,"this lovely girl here has talked me into doing an interview."

"She has?" Donnie asked in surprise, as he looked over at Meredith, who had her mouth open in shock.

"She has." Oliver said, then added,"she's very persistent and an amazing writer and photographer. She showed me some of her stuff, which is why, if I'm going to do this interview, she's going to be the one who interviews me."

"I think that is a very good idea, Mr. Queen. Meredith here is one of our best employees. I have no doubt she will do a great job." Donnie said, gushing over how amazing she is. Meredith would almost believe the words he was saying, he was that good, except for the dirty look he shot her way, the one telling her she better not screw this up.

"It's settled then." Oliver said, then looked over at Meredith as he suggested with a sly smile,"how about we grab some lunch and you can interview me now?"

Meredith bit her lip to keep from smiling, seeing that he had this planned out all along. He had always been a sneaky one, and from the looks of it, that hasn't changed.

"That's a great idea." Donnie said, as he clap his hands once. He looked over at Meredith as he said,"go accompany Mr. Queen for lunch, take as much time as you need, and I want that interview on my desk by the morning."

"Yes, sir." Meredith said with a smile, as she turned and began to walk away.

"I can not believe you did that." Meredith said with a laugh, as she walked beside Oliver with Tommy on the other side of her.

"Hey, it got you out of work for a few hours, maybe even the whole day, he did say take as long as you needed." Oliver pointed out.

"Yeah, but now I actually have to write an article on you." Meredith stated. "The last thing I want is to put what happened to you out there for anyone to see. Oliver, you deserve privacy."

"It's fine." Oliver said, brushing her concerns away. "The story is already out there, everyone is talking about it, at least this way I know there will be at least one story about me that is true." He added. He knew she would write the most truthful article without having to go too far into his past. She respected him enough to not push him to talk about things he's not ready to, where some people wouldn't know when to stop pushing. In short, he trusted her, always had.

Meredith smiled, nodding her head in agreement, as she linked her arm with his, as the three walked out of the building.

"So what have you two been up to today?" Meredith questioned, as they turned to walk down the sidewalk then turned to walk down the alley where Tommy parked his car. "I hope you haven't gotten him into too much trouble." She added, as she glanced over her shoulder to look at Tommy.

She lowered her eyebrows in confusion when she saw a van pull into the alley behind them and slammed on the brakes. She gripped Oliver's arm and gasp in surprise when she saw men with mask walking toward them. They shot a dart at Tommy, causing him to pass out.

Oliver pushed Meredith behind him, wanting to protect her, but it did no good. They shot a dart at her and him, causing them both to fall to the ground. He locked eyes with Meredith for a moment, seeing the fear in her eyes before they both blacked out.

Meredith wasn't sure how long she was out for, but when she opened her eyes, she realized she was face down on the floor in an old, dark, abandoned warehouse. She saw Tommy, who was still knocked out, laying beside her, then turned her head, looking for Oliver and finding him tied to a chair. She saw the men in the mask taser him as they questioned him about his father, and from the looks of it, it wasn't the first time they had tased him.

She tried to move her arm, to reach out to him, as she whimpered out his name, only no one heard her. She felt tears fill her eyes, worried for Oliver and for them, wondering what those bastard would do to them next. She felt her eyelids grow heavy and tried to fight it, but it was no use, her eyes closed and she felt herself slipping into darkness until she heard the sound of fighting. She forced her eyes opened and saw Oliver fighting the men in the mask.

She lowered her eyebrows in confusion and surprise. When the hell did Oliver learn how to fight?

While he was fighting one of the guys, she felt her eyes shutting again. When she came to again she saw him using another guy for a shield as the last one fired his gun at him before running off.

She softly gasp when she saw someone coming over toward her, worried it was one of the bad guys at first, until she caught a whiff of his cologne and realized it was Oliver. She was to out of it to say anything to him as she felt her eyes closing again. He pushed her hair from her face to look at her, making sure she was OK, then checked on Tommy before running after the guy.

Minutes later, Meredith heard someone moving around beside her and forced her eyes open, turning her head to the side and seeing that it was Tommy, who was coming to finally.

"What happened? Who were those guys?" Tommy asked, as he rubbed his neck, where he was shot with a dart.

"I dunno." Meredith mumbled.

"Where's Oliver?" Tommy asked fearfully, as he glanced around, looking for their friend but not seeing him.

"He was... I saw him... I-I..." Meredith began to say, then paused. What exactly did she see? She wasn't really sure since she was in and out. She placed her hands on the floor and slowly pushed herself up, as she looked around in confusion, then looked over at Tommy and said,"I don't know. I ... Everything happened so fast, I don't know."

"He probably went for help." Tommy suggested.

"Yeah, you're probably right. He's probably helping." Meredith said, as she saw a flash in her mind of Oliver fighting one of the mask men. She glanced over to the side, seeing the other two men laying on the floor. If Oliver didn't hurt them, then who did?

_- {o0o} -_

"So that's your story. A guy in a green hood flew in and single-handedly took out three armed kidnappers. I mean, who is he? Why would he do that?" Detective Lance questioned them many minutes later.

After calling the police and getting checked over, Meredith, Tommy and Oliver were at the Queen's mansion, being questioned and from the sounds of it, it didn't seem like the detective believed them. Although Meredith did have to admit, the story was crazy. A green man in a hood saving the day, but that is what Oliver told them happened, and since she and Tommy couldn't completely trust their own memories in that moment, they had to believe him. Why would Oliver lie?

"I don't know. Find him and you can ask." Oliver said sarcastically, as he leaned back against the couch, throwing an arm around Meredith's shoulders, hoping to comfort her.

"Yeah." Detective Lance said in a disbelieving tone. He looked over at Tommy, who was on the other side of Meredith, as he asked,"what about you? You see the hood guy?"

"I saw ..." Tommy began to say, as he cut his eyes to Oliver for a moment, then looked back at the detective, as he continued,"just moment. Everything blurry. I was kind of out of it."

"Hmm." Lance said. He looked over at Meredith, who was chewing on a thumb nail as she stared at the floor, in her own little world. "What about you, Ms. Logan?"

Everyone turned to look at Meredith, who was still in a daze, until Oliver lightly nudged her and whispered out her name, causing her to snap to and look over at him.

"Yeah?" Meredith asked him. He didn't say anything, as he nodded his head over toward the detective. She turned her head to look at Lance with eyebrows raised as she apologized and asking him to repeat himself.

"I was asking what you saw. Did you see the green hood guy?" Lance questioned.

"Well, I uh... I..." She began to say, sensing that Oliver was watching her. Her eyes flickered over at him for a moment, seeing him slightly nod his head at her, as if pleading with her to agree. She cleared her throat then said,"yeah I-I saw him."

"Are you sure? Cause you don't seem sure." Lance pointed out.

"I was shot with a tranquilizer dart. I was in and out of consciousness, not to mentioned freaked out of my mind, so forgive me if I can't give you a play by-play of what actually happened, Detective." Meredith said with a hint of attitude, then added,"all I know is, I'm alive cause of the green hood guy." She glanced over at Oliver for a moment then looked back at the detective, as she continued,"he should be thanked, not hunted down. If you want to go after anyone, go after the bad guys, find out who was responsible for the kidnapping. I mean, that is your job right?"

"Yeah, well, sometimes the people who should be punished, never are." Lance said, as he cut his eyes toward Oliver.

"I don't find your tone appropriate, Detective." Moira spoke up.

"If Oliver can think of anything else, he'll be in touch." Walter, who was sitting beside his wife, across from the three friends, said, as he stood up. "Thank you, gentlemen, for coming." He added.

After the police left, Moira and Walter left the room, then Tommy, who offered Meredith a ride home, which she declined, leaving her alone in the room with Oliver. The two didn't say anything, just sat beside each other in silence, until Oliver stood up and left the room. Only to come back a few minutes later with a bottle of water for Meredith, who was staring down at the floor, chewing on her finger nail again like earlier.

"Here." Oliver softly said, as he held the bottle out to her.

Meredith lifted her head for a moment to look at him, then took the bottle from him, drinking half of it in one swallow. When she pulled the bottle away, she took a couple of deep breaths, trying to get ahold of her emotions, before she looked over at Oliver and asked,"what happened? What really happened today, Oliver?"

"Come on." Oliver said, while holding a hand out to her, offering to help her off the couch.

Meredith ignored his hand as she stood up on her own, then asked again,"what happened?"

"Let's go for a drive." Oliver pleaded, not wanting to get into any of this at his house. He didn't want to take the chance that anyone overheard anything.

"No. I'm not going anywhere with you until you tell me what the hell happened today." Meredith said, standing her ground.

Oliver blew out a breath, as he stepped toward her and tried not to feel hurt when she took a step back from him. He took another big step toward her, closing the gap between them as he wrapped an arm around her waist. He pulled her toward him, as he whispered in her ear,"just come with me, please."

Meredith raised her head to look at him, searching his eyes, seeing glimpse of the Oliver she's known all of her life and glimpse of a new Oliver, one who could fight and kill. One that, honestly, kind of scared her earlier.

She took a shaky breath then whispered out,"did you kill those men?"

Oliver didn't say anything for a moment as he stared at her, seeing the fear in her eyes, before finally saying,"let me take you home."

"I can take a cab." Meredith said back, as she tried to step out of his arms, but he stopped her.

He laid his hands on either side of her face, forcing her to look at him, as he said,"I don't know what you think you saw, but it wasn't me, and even if it was, you don't have to look at me like this. Mere, I would never hurt you, you know that, right?" He wiped away a tear that began to roll down her cheek, then added,"please tell me you know that."

Meredith searched his eyes again, seeing the care in them. The loving look he had always given her, he was right, no matter what Oliver came back from that island, he would never hurt her. He had always made her feel safe and even during the kidnapping, rather what she saw was him fighting or not, she still felt safe, she never felt like he would hurt her and she knew he would do whatever to protect her.

"I know. I know you wouldn't hurt me." Meredith whispered out, causing him to breathe out a sigh of relief.

"You've had a long, emotional day, let me take you home." Oliver suggested again, as he ran a hand down her back, stopping at the small of her back to nudge her to begin walking out of the room and toward the front door.

_- {o0o} -_

The two didn't say much as he drove to her apartment. After parking the car in the parking lot, Oliver followed along behind her as she walked up a couple of flight of stairs to get to her apartment door. She slide the key in the lock, then glanced over her shoulder as she said,"sorry about all the stairs. The elevator is out."

"Wasn't the elevator out years ago when me and Tommy helped you move in?" Oliver questioned.

"Oh yeah, it was." Meredith said, as she remembered back to that day.

"Wow, the place looks great." Oliver said, as the two walked inside. He glanced around, then added,"looks a lot different then last time I was here."

"That's cause I wasn't fully unpacked the last time you were here." Meredith pointed out. She had just moved into the apartment right before he left on the Queen's Gambit.

"You did a great job, Mere." Oliver said, as he looked over at her with a smile.

"Thanks." Meredith said. She cleared her throat and turned her head to break the contact, then said,"also thank you for bringing me home, and for not taking no for an answer when I said I didn't need a ride. The truth is, today kind of freaked me out so it's nice to not be alone right now."

"I know." Oliver said with a smile, then added,"we might have been apart for five years, but I still know you, Mere. I remember everything about you." He took a few steps toward her, then continued,"like that twinkle in your eye when you get excited about something, that one dorky laugh of yours. You know the one when you throw your head back and laugh so hard you can barely breathe, so you end up gasping for air. I remember when you're mad or upset, you turn to anger and try to shut people out, like earlier. I remember it all, Mere."

"Wow. I'm impressed. I didn't think I had made that much of an impression on you." Meredith said, as she looked over at him with a shy smile.

"Mere ..." Oliver began to say, as he took another step toward her, stopping in front of her and catching her eyes.

Before he could say anything else, she cleared her throat and took a step back, as she asked,"do you want something to drink? A beer? Water? Beer?"

"I'll take a water." Oliver said with a slight chuckle, seeing how nervous she was, how nervous he was making her.

"OK, well, I need a beer." Meredith breathed out, as she told him to hold on, as she rushed into the kitchen just needing a minute to catch her breath. She didn't know what was going on right now, but knew what it looked like. She had seen Oliver charm plenty of girls in the past and now it seemed like he was turning all that charm on her, but why? Why now? She couldn't go there again, she couldn't fall for him again then watch him with someone else and she knew there would be someone else, there was always someone else.

She took a few deep breaths then reached into the refrigerator to grab a bottle of water and a bottle of beer. She opened the beer and took a big swallow, then walked back into the living room, seeing Oliver looking at some of the pictures she took that were hanging on the wall. Then he moved over to the fireplace mantel, looking at all the pictures in different frames.

"How's Jay?" Oliver asked, referring to her cousin, as he looked at a picture of the two that was taken before Jayde moved to Africa.

"She's good." Meredith said with a smile, as she glanced over at the picture.

"You mentioned last night that she left. Where did she go? What happened?" Oliver asked.

"That- That was another horrible tragedy." Meredith began to say, as she sat down on the arm of the couch. She looked down at her beer bottle, tearing at the label, as she continued,"not long after we thought you were... you know, dead, her mom was murdered. It completely destroyed Jay. I think she kind of blames herself, she thinks there is something she could have done."

"I'm sure there was nothing she could have done." Oliver said, as he looked over at the picture again. This was why he had to become the hood, to protect people like Meredith and Jayde, protect families so another tragedy like this wouldn't happen. He had to protect his city. He looked back over at Meredith as he asked,"did they catch the person?"

As Meredith sadly shook her head, he added,"I'm sure whoever it was, they will get theirs. One day soon."

The two were quiet for a moment, until he spoke up and asked,"so where is she now?"

"In Africa, living with her aunt." Meredith answered, then added,"she had the choice of going there or staying here with me. She choose to go there."

"That's surprising." Oliver said. He knew how close the two were, even if there was a ten-year age difference between the two, they were always close like sisters.

"She said she didn't want to put the added pressure on me. I told her we would be ok, but you know how Jay is." Meredith said, with a soft smile, she added,"the girl would rather save others than herself."

"You miss her, don't you?" Oliver questioned, when he saw the look on her face.

"Yeah, I do. I mean she visits some here and there, and we talk often, but it's not the same, you know?" Meredith said.

Oliver nodded his head then looked over at her, as he said,"it's hard being away from the people you care about. Trust me."

Meredith smiled at his words, but didn't say anything, just held out the bottle of water she got for him. She honestly didn't know what to say back. This flirty Oliver was something she wasn't use to, she didn't know how to act or respond.

He continued to stare at her as he took a swallow from his bottle until he saw something orange out of the corner of his eye walking into the room. He pulled the bottle away with a chuckle as he asked,"Jager? You still have Jager?"

"Yeah, of course." Meredith answered, as the cat jumped on the back of the couch, glancing around the room with a lazy look on his face. He yawned then jumped down onto the couch before curling up and going to sleep.

"Wow, I just can't believe you still have him. We were what... sixteen sneaking into a bar?" Oliver asked, referring to the night she found the cat.

"Correction... seventeen sneaking into a bar." Meredith said with a laugh.

"Right, seventeen." Oliver said, then added,"we walked out in to the alley and there was a tiny little orange kitten that you just had to take home."

"Well like I said that night, everyone deserves love. Everyone deserves to have that one person who makes them feel safe and alive." Meredith said, as she stood up from the couch. As the man before her crossed her mind, she softly added,"and hopefully that person feels the same way back."

"Maybe they do." Oliver said back, barely above a whisper.

Meredith turned away from him, hearing his comment, but not sure how to take it. She took a small sip of her beer, then turned around to face him, as she mumbled,"well, it's getting late, so..."

She turned to walk away until Oliver reached out and grabbed her arm, turning back around to face him. He placed his hands on either side of her face, forcing her to look at him, as his eyes glanced over her features, studying her reaction as he looked down at her lips. He saw her nervously lick her bottom lip, making him want to kiss her even more than he already did, but something was holding him back. As much as he wanted to, he thought back to all he had to do to get his city back on track. Things were going to get dangerous and he couldn't bring her into that part of his world.

He tried to argue with himself that he could protect the city and her, that he could keep both worlds apart, causing him to lean a little toward her, until he remembered earlier that day. He didn't know who those men were or what they wanted, but they could have hurt her or Tommy and he couldn't chance that. He couldn't put either one in danger again, which meant, even though he knew how he felt for her now, he couldn't go there with her.

"Ollie ..." Meredith breathed out, wondering what he was thinking, wondering if he was actually going to kiss her like she hoped he would.

"You're right. It's late." He said. He tried to block the disappointed look on her face from his mind, as he bent forward and kissed her forehead. He mumbled out a '_good night_', then walked past her to the front door, leaving her confused as he left the apartment.

_- {o0o} -_

_a/n - hello readers! I'm glad some people are liking this story. Thank you to everyone reading and/or adding the story. Also big thanks to LionHeartMisfit, xxxRena, LiquidLuck007, highlander348, RHatch89, winchesterxgirl, hayden, cc and Iris RainbowWolf for reviewing. Happy reading!  
_


	3. The Welcome Home Bash

_**Chapter Three - The Welcome Home Bash  
**_

* * *

It had been a few days since the almost kiss, if that is what it even was. Meredith wasn't sure if that is what was about to happen or if she had just imagined it, either way, she knew she had to distance herself from all that. She couldn't get caught up in Oliver drama again, so she did what she did best, threw herself into her work and ignored everyone, well mostly everyone, she talked to Jayde, who wanted to know every detail about Oliver and that night.

Jayde was convinced he liked her and wanted to kiss her, but Meredith just couldn't believe it, besides, if he really did want to, then he could have, that moment was the perfect time to do it, instead he did nothing and walked away. To Meredith, that did not sound like a man who was into her, it sounded like a man who was just happy to be around his friend again. His friend and nothing more.

Even though she was sure that is all it was, a small part of her couldn't help but wonder if Jayde was right, which was what she was thinking while sitting at her desk at work. She should be editing pictures, but instead she was leaned back in her chair, chewing on a pencil and staring out the window beside her desk, lost in thought.

She was still like that minutes later, when someone walked over to her desk and cleared their throat, getting her attention.

Meredith turned her head to the side, seeing a smiling Tommy, and opened her mouth to say hey, causing the pencil to fall on to her desk. She made a face at the noise it made, then looked up at Tommy as she said,"hey, sorry about that."

"It's ok." Tommy said, as he leaned against her desk. "I shouldn't be surprised that I would find you at work. You went from being an alcoholic to a workaholic." He joked.

"Hey, I was never an alcoholic. I just drank a lot." Meredith said back with a laugh, then asked seriously,"and as far as your other comment, why wouldn't I be at work?"

"Well, after what happened the other day..." Tommy began to say, referring to the kidnapping. "I thought maybe you would take a few days off and relax." He added.

"Yeah, well, news never stops, neither can I." Meredith pointed out, as she turned to look at her computer screen. "So what is the real reason you are here, Tommy?" She asked, as she glanced through her emails.

"I just wanted to check on you. Mere." Tommy said, then added,"Oliver mentioned he hasn't talked to you in days and I know I haven't talked to you in days and I know you Mere, when something is wrong you disappear and turn to your work. It worries me."

"No need to worry, Tommy boy, I'm just fine." Meredith said, as she shot him a tight smile before looking back at the computer screen.

"Yeah, forgive me if I don't believe that." Tommy said, as he turned to place his hands on her desk, lower his head to try to catch her eye. When she looked up at him, he continued,"like I said, I know you Mere. Talk to me."

"Nothing to talk about, Tommy." Meredith said with a sigh, as she opened up an email. Her eyes scanned over the threatening words, causing her eyes to widen, as a small gasp left her lips.

"What is it?" Tommy asked, when he saw the look on her face. He straightened up and walked behind her to look at the screen, but she had already deleted the message and closed her email.

She spun around in her chair to face him as she said,"nothing. Just some stupid email telling me to mind my business."

"Someone is threatening you?" Tommy asked with a concern look on his face.

"It's stupid. It's no big deal, Tommy. We get emails like this all the time, no one likes for a journalist to do a story on them." Meredith explained, brushing the rude email away. She stood up from her desk and smooth her skirt out, then said,"well, thanks for checking on me, but as you can see I am completely fine, I'm not falling apart. I am, however, busy, so I gotta go."

"Ok, if you say so." Tommy said, as he held up his hands. He took a few steps back, then pointed at her, as he added,"but we'll see you tonight, right? You can not miss the party."

"What party?" Meredith asked confused.

"Oliver's welcome home bash. He told you about it, right?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, of course." Meredith lied, then added,"I just forgot about it. I'm not sure if I will make it though, I'm just busy, you know?"

"Well, just try, ok? You know Oliver will want you there, we both do." Tommy said, as he took a few steps backwards. He waited until she nodded her head, letting him know she would try, then he called out a '_bye_' as he turned around and left the room.

Once Tommy was gone, she grabbed her purse from under her desk and took out her cell phone. She looked at the last few text messages she had received from Oliver, not one mentioning a party that night. She tossed her phone back into her purse, feeling tears filling her eyes. Not inviting a girl to a party was definitely a sign that he wasn't interested.

She grabbed a folder of papers from her desk, planning to make copies and keep herself busy, but instead made a mad dash for the bathroom when she felt a tear slide down her cheek. She tossed the folder on the counter and rested her hands on either side of the sink as her head dropped. She took several deep breaths, trying to keep more tears from falling.

This was stupid. She was not going to fall apart cause of Oliver. Not again.

She was in the middle of trying to give herself a pep talk, when the bathroom door opened. She lifted her head up and tried not to roll her eyes when she saw Katie standing behind her from the mirror.

She quickly wiped at her face, as she said,"what do you want. Katie? Let me guess Donnie wants something and sent you to make sure it was done."

"No, I uh, I saw you rush in here and you looked upset. I thought I would see if you was ok." Katie said, as she took another step into the room.

"Why?" Meredith couldn't help but ask. She and Katie were never friends, they barely talked unless Donnie sent her to rush Meredith along on a story or she stopped by just to annoy her.

"We're friends." Katie simply said, then added when Meredith raised her eyebrows in surprise,"I mean, we are friends, right?"

"Honestly, Katie, I never thought of you as a friend." Meredith said, as she turned around to face the girl.

"Oh." Katie breathed out, as she looked down at her hands, as she nervously played with her fingers.

"I'm sorry, I'm not trying to be a bitch, I just ..."

"No, it's ok." Katie said interrupting her. "I guess I kind of jumped the gun calling us friends, but I would like for us to be. I mean, I know what people think when they see me, just another ditzy blonde, but I just want you to know, if you do need anyone to talk to, I'm here." She added.

She gave Meredith a small smile, then turned around and reached for the door, until Meredith called out her name. As she turned around to face her. Meredith smiled, as she said,"thanks, Katie."

"You're welcome." Katie said back with a smile, as she turned around and left the restroom.

Once she was gone, Meredith turned back around to look at herself in the mirror. "Get it together, Mere. He's just not into you, which shouldn't be a surprise, so just put a fake smile on your face and get back out there. It's what you've done before, you can do it again. You can do it." She mumbled to herself, as she grabbed the folder and left the room, throwing herself into her work with a smile on her face like she usually did. It was the only way to keep Oliver from her mind. It's what would keep her sane.

_- {o0o} -_

For the rest of the day, Meredith worked. She stayed at work for as long as she could until it was time for her to leave the building, then she took her work home and continued to work all night. She had no plans to go to Oliver's welcome home bash. It wasn't cause she wasn't happy he was back, of course she was, but things were just weird and confusing at the moment and she knew she was on a slippery slope to falling for him again.

Oh who was she kidding, she had already fell for him, she did that years ago and the feelings never went away. Not fully. They just hid all the years he was gone, in those years, she just grieve for the best friend she lost, but now that he was back, the feelings were back, much more intense than before and it was hard being around him feeling the way she did. She just had to wait till the feelings settled down, if they ever did, then things could go back to the way they were. She could be around her friend and hide away her true feelings again.

At least that was her plan, until she got a phone call.

She was sitting at her kitchen table, laptop open in front of her, when her cell phone began to vibrate on the table. She glanced from the screen for a moment to answer the call and put it on speaker, then looked back at the screen as she called out,"hello."

"Wow, you answered that way too fast." Jayde's voice said over the phone. She glanced at the time and quickly figured up the time difference, then added,"especially on a Friday night. A night where you should be out partying, since your best friend is back from the dead and all. Just please don't tell me that you are working, Mere. Tell me you are watching some great movie or at least just had some amazing sex, just don't tell me you are working."

"Jay!" Meredith yelled, surprised at her comment. "Aren't you too young to even say the word '_sex_', much less use it in a sentence." She mumbled.

"I'm seventeen, Mere, and from the stories I have heard from when you were seventeen you were doing much worst things then saying the word '_sex_'." Jayde joked.

"Yeah, well to me you are still a little girl, who shouldn't even know what that word is." Meredith said, then added,"but you are right, I did a lot of bad things when I was your age. Things that you better never think of doing, missy."

"Don't worry, Mere. You know I am all about helping people, not getting involved with any kind of drama." Jayde announced.

"I know, Jay. That is one of the many things I have always loved about you. You're a good kid." Meredith said with a proud smile on her face. She heard Jayde clear her throat, her way of reminding her she wasn't a '_kid_' anymore, causing her to quickly added,"I mean, girl? Woman? Young woman? One of those are better right?"

"A little." Jayde said with a laugh. The two were silent for a moment, until she spoke up again and said,"so, speaking of drama... what's the latest with you and Oliver?"

"Ugh, do we have to talk about this?" Meredith groaned, as she rested her elbows on the table and dropped her head, running her fingers through her hair.

"Yeah, we do. You have your best friend back. Mere. Your huge crush for years is finally back in your life and what are you doing? Nothing, that's what. Nothing at all." Jayde said, then added,"you got to get on that Mere, and the sooner the better."

"Wait, do you mean get on him or get on the situation?" Meredith questioned.

"Both." Jayde said with a laugh. "Has anything happened since the almost kiss the other night?" She questioned.

"It wasn't an almost kiss, Jay." Meredith corrected her.

"I beg to differ. It was definitely an almost kiss." Jayde said.

"How would you know? You weren't even here." Meredith pointed out with a slight chuckle.

"Maybe not, but you painted a very vivid picture and I can read between the lines." Jayde stated. "Have you at least talked to him since that night?" She asked.

"Not really." Meredith answered with a sigh.

"Mere, you know I love you, but this whole '_pushing people away and shutting down_' thing you do is not good. Do I need to remind you that you got Oliver back? I mean for years you thought he was gone, that you lost him forever and he is back, he is right there in front of you and you have to do something about it." Jayde said, hoping to reach other to her cousin and push her in the right direction. "You need to get off of your ass right now and go to him. Do it now!" She added.

"Even if I wanted to, tonight is not the night. He's at his big party right now." Meredith pointed out.

"Party? What party?" Jayde asked confused.

"Apparently he's having a big welcome home party tonight. Tommy told me about it earlier." Meredith answered.

"Well, what the hell are you waiting for, Mere? Get your ass to that party." Jayde said.

"How do I even know he wants me there? He didn't tell me about it, Jay. That is a huge sign that he doesn't want me there." Meredith pointed out.

"Oh, my God, you are so lucky I am not there right now or I would slap you so hard in the head." Jayde said, as she ran a hand through her hair. "You are going to that party. How could you even think they don't want you there? No matter what you are their best friend and if you don't go, you will regret it." She added.

Meredith bit her bottom lip, she knew her cousin had a point, but she was still nervous to walk right in the middle of all that. Besides what would she even wear. Which is what she said out to her cousin.

"Hmm..." Jayde said, as she tried to remember some of the dresses her cousin had in her closet. "Oh, you remember last year when I visited and we went shopping? What about that purple that you bought? That dress looked amazing on you."

Meredith smiled as she said,"yeah, that dress will work. Plus I have the perfect shoes for it."

"Well, go get dressed, but keep me on the line, then later I want to hear all the details, ok?" Jayde said out excitedly.

"Ok." Meredith said, as she jumped up from her seat, grabbing her cell phone and ran into her bedroom to get dressed for the party.

After talking to Jayde and getting dressed, Meredith felt like she could do anything, but now that she was actually walking into the building, glancing around at all the party goers, she was losing her nerve. She tried to find Oliver or Tommy in the crowd, but couldn't find them, she did see a bar though and made her way toward it.

She stood off to the side and took a deep breath, then slowly released it as she waited for a bartender to came over to her. Once he did, before she could open her mouth, he set out four shot glasses and began to fill them up with a dark liquid.

"What's this?" Meredith asked him.

"It's what you wanted, right?" He questioned.

"Yeah, but I didn't even tell you that is what I wanted." She argued.

"You didn't have to. I could just tell it was what you needed." He said, as he shot her a wink, then walked off.

Meredith shook her head with a small smile then grabbed a shot glass, quickly drinking it, then after setting the empty glass down, grabbed the other three, one at a time, drinking them all. She made a face and breathed out a chuckle once she was done, the drinks already helping her to loosen up. She use to be a big drinker back in the day, but in the years that Oliver was gone, she didn't go out as much. Hardly ever would be the right answer. She also didn't drink as much anymore, at least not like she did, just a beer or glass of wine here and there, but tonight she needed more than that if she was going to take Jayde's advice and go for it.

She glanced down at the other end of the bar, seeing that the bartender was busy, but instead of waiting, decided to lean over the counter and grabbed a bottle. She filled up her four shot glasses again then sat the bottle back where she found it. She quickly drank the shots, then began to wiggle her body to the music, the liquor definitely hitting her.

She bit her bottom lip and glanced down at the bottle again, thinking of refilling her glasses one more time, until she felt someone tap her shoulder. She quickly spun around, feeling dizzy for a moment, then smiled when she saw who was standing in front of her.

"Ollie!" Meredith called out happily, as she stumbled into his arms, hugging him tight.

"Hey, you're here!" Oliver said back, surprised but happy to see her. According to Tommy, she wasn't sure if she was coming, but he was glad that she did. The party wouldn't be the same without her.

"Ah, I know what that look means." Meredith said, as she pointed to his face. "You're surprised. You're surprised that I am here, right? Of course you are! Since you didn't even invite me." She added bitterly.

"Mere..." He began to say. He had planned to tell her that she didn't need to be invited. She was always welcomed to anything which was why he never said anything, he just assumed she would come.

"Nope, Nu-uh, you don't have to explain, Ollie." Meredith interrupted, as she held up a hand to stop him. "We're just friends, right? Just friends mean... friends mean never having to explain things. Right? Right."

Oliver opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, they heard someone calling out to them. Meredith turned around and squealed out happily before calling,"Tommy Boy!"

"Drunk Meredith!" Tommy yelled out, as he hugged her and kissed the side of her head. "Man have I missed you! Let's get this girl another drink, huh?" He called out, as he pointed to the bar.

"No." Oliver said, at the same time she yelled out '_yes_'. He wrapped an arm around her waist, resting his hand on her hip, as he leaned toward her and whispered in her ear,"you've had enough, don't you think?"

Meredith turned her head to look at Oliver, a flirty smile upon her lips, as she said back,"I don't know, Ollie, have I? Or is this just getting started?"

"Woo, here we go." Tommy called out, as he turned back around to face them after getting some drinks from the bar. He handed a glass to Oliver and Meredith, then grabbed the last one for himself. He stood on the other side of Oliver, taking a swallow from his drink, then said to Oliver,"now by my rough estimate, you have not had sex in 1,839 days."

Meredith snorted and almost choked on her drink. She rolled her head to the side to look up at Oliver as she said,"wow, that is a long, long time without sex, I mean I thought, my 138 days was bad, but that is very bad. Wow, you need to get laid, Ollie. We both do." She took a sip of her drink, then began to chew on the straw, as she mumbled out,"damn, I miss sex."

Oliver looked down at her as he chuckled and shook his head, before he looked over at Tommy with raised eyebrows, they have not seen this side of Meredith in years.

"I forgot how horny she gets when she's drunk." Tommy said with a laugh, as he looked over at her seeing her turn her drink up and finishing it off.

"Drink... I need another drink." Meredith said, as she turned around to face the bar. She tried to flag down the bartender, as she called out,"hey, the bartender is kind of cute, huh?"

"Ok, she is officially cut off." Oliver said, as he took the glass from her hand, sitting it down, then began to walk away from the bar with her by his side, keeping her close.

"Where are we going?" Meredith asked, confused.

"Away from the bar and the cute bartender." Oliver said a little harsher than he meant. He hated to admit it, but her little comment about the bartender bothered him. He knew she wasn't his, and cause of his secret life she couldn't ever be his, but he still hated the thought of her being with someone else, which he knew wasn't fair, but that was just the way he felt about it.

The two walked through the crowd until he came to a stop on the edge of the dance floor. He turned to face her then said,"we can stand here and talk."

"Or we can dance?" Meredith suggested, as she nodded her head toward the others who were dancing around to the upbeat song playing.

Oliver laughed at the request and shook his head, causing her to ask out,"what?"

He leaned toward her, so she could hear him over the music, as he said,"did you think I forgot what a horrible dancer you are?"

"Maybe I got better." Meredith challenged him.

"Let's see it then." Oliver said, as he took a step back with his arms out, giving her the floor to show him what moves she had now.

Meredith bit her bottom lip nervously, she knew she was still a terrible dance, no amount of alcohol would change that, but maybe she could fake it.

A girl, over his shoulder, caught her eye and she began to move with the beat, copying the girl's moves. She glanced over at Oliver, seeing the impressed look on his face, then looked back over at the girl, ready to copy more of her moves until she realizes the dancing girl was gone. She looked back over at Oliver, unsure what to do now, and resorted back to her old terrible dance moves.

Oliver laughed at loud and shook his head as he said,"oh no, you definitely did not get better."

"OK, you're right. I'm still terrible." Meredith said with a laugh of her own, as she stopped dancing. "I should not try that, ever again. I'm too old to be dancing around like a spaz." She added, as she threw her head back and laugh, causing Oliver to smile as he watched her. He always did love that laugh.

Oliver opened his mouth to say something, but before he could, he saw Thea from over her shoulder. It was bad enough that she was at the party while being underage, but then he saw her getting drugs from someone, and he knew he had to stop it. He glanced around, looking for Diggle, his bodyguard, and waved him over.

"Something I can help you with, Mr. Queen?" Diggle asked, as he came to a stop in front of Oliver.

Oliver glanced over at Meredith for a moment, seeing that she was in her own little world as she watched everyone dancing, then he leaned toward Diggle and said,"keep an eye on her till I get back."

"I was hired to watch you, Mr. Queen, not some drunk girl." Diggle pointed out.

"And as my employer, I'm asking you to watch her for a minute." Oliver said back, then added,"she's not just some drunk girl. She's a girl who is very important to me, who has had way too much to drink, so please, watch her, while I deal with my little sister."

"Very well, sir." Diggle said, with a nod.

Oliver nodded his head to thank him, then called out to Meredith, getting her attention and telling her he would be right back, but Diggle was going to hang out with her till then. She nodded her head in understanding then began to dance around a little. He chuckled at her terrible moves, then turned around to leave, making his way over to Thea.

Meredith wasn't sure how long she had stood on the edge of the dance floor, moving along to the music, when she sensed someone walking up behind her and tapped her shoulder. She quickly spun around, her hair whipping around and getting stuck on her face, causing her to laugh out loud as she pushed it aside.

"There you are!" Tommy, who had tapped her shoulder, happily said, as he threw up his hands.

"Hey, Tommy Boy!" Meredith said back.

"Where's Oliver?" Tommy asked, as he glanced around looking for him.

As Meredith shrugged her shoulders, Diggle spoke up and said,"he's talking to his sister."

Tommy nodded his head in understanding, then asked Diggle,"so you're babysitting Mere now?"

"Mr. Queen asked me to look after her and he's my employer, so ..." Diggle said, not looking to pleased at the request.

"Well I get it from here. Have a drink and relax. It's a party, no need to look so serious." Tommy joked, as he slapped his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around Meredith's waist, as he said over to her,"how about we go grab another drink?"

Meredith nodded her head, excited at the idea, as the two walked off. Diggle thought about speaking up, pointing out the fact that she had already had enough, but it wasn't his place. He wasn't hired to lecture the rich on how much they drank. Instead, he turned around and began to walk through the crowd, looking for the man he actually was getting paid to protect.

Once at the bar, Meredith and Tommy had a few more shots as they laughed and joked around until Meredith saw someone from the corner of her eye, it was Laurel arriving at the party. She groaned as she drank another shot, slamming the glass down a little harder than she meant, as she said with a touch of jealousy,"of course he invited Laurel."

Tommy glanced over his shoulder, smiling when he saw her, then turned back to look at Meredith as he said,"actually I invited her."

"Oh." Meredith said, surprised.

"They have too much history between them, we all do, to leave things the way they are. I think it would be good for them to talk things out and maybe become friends again." Tommy explained.

Meredith nodded her head in agreement, he was right, they all have been friends for years. It's not like she hated Laurel, the two were kind of friends, but not the best of, most of her problem with Laurel stemmed from jealousy. She wasn't proud of it, but that's the way it was. Even now she couldn't stop the jealousy as she saw Oliver and Laurel walk off together, finding somewhere quiet to talk she would assume.

"So are you two still ... eee-err eee-err?" Meredith asked him, imitating a squeaky bed, as she questioned if he and Laurel were still hooking up.

Tommy choked on his drink for a moment, causing him to cough out loud. Meredith leaned over to slap him on the back a few times. He laughed as he looked over at her and said,"I am not answering that."

"I'm going to take that as a yes then." Meredith said with a laugh, then added,"and I'm also going to guess that you haven't told Oliver about it."

"Nope." Tommy said, as he shook his head, then said,"and you're not telling him either."

"You have to tell him, Tommy." Meredith said seriously.

"I know, and I will, I just need to find the right time." Tommy said back. He looked over at her, as he asked,"have you told him?"

"You just told me not to." Meredith joked, thinking that is what he was asking.

Tommy shook his head, then said,"no I mean, have you told him you still have feelings for him?" He chuckled when she looked over at him with a shocked look on her face, causing him to added,"I told you, I know you Mere, and I know you still care about him, maybe even more now that he is back. You should tell him."

"Yeah cause it did me so much good back when I first told him." Meredith said sarcastically. Years ago, with Tommy pushing, she finally got up the nerve to tell Oliver she liked him. He was shocked, surprised and unfortunately for her, not interested. He didn't come right out and say it that way, he brushed it off as they were too good of friends to go there, but she knew that was just his nice way of saying he wasn't attracted to her. Thankfully the talk took place one night while they had been drinking heavily, so she never brought it up again and was grateful he never did either. It was one of those conversations that stayed in the past and needed to stay there.

"That was years ago." Tommy pointed out.

"Doesn't mean anything has changed." Meredith said back.

"Everything has changed, Mere." He argued.

Meredith thought about what he said for a moment, then chuckled as she said,"you just want me to go after him so you will have Laurel all to yourself."

"Maybe." Tommy joked, then added seriously,"or maybe I just want my two best friends happy and together."

Meredith smiled at his comment, but didn't say anything back.

Tommy kissed the top of her head, then said,"just think about it."

The two sat in silence for a few minutes until she heard Tommy sigh. She looked over at him, asking him what was wrong. He tapped his fingers on the counter a few times before asking,"what do you think they're talking about?"

"Aw, are you jealous?" Meredith teased.

"Aren't you?" Tommy asked back.

"Unfortunately, yeah." Meredith mumbled. She took a deep breath, then blew it out, before saying,"ugh, this is so sad. We are sad. This is a party, a damn good party, and we're worried about what is going on between two people who dated years ago. We shouldn't be worried about this, we should be having a good time and celebrating the fact that our best friend is back in our lives. He is back from the dead. We need to drink to that."

"Yes we do." Tommy said with a smile. He raised his hand, calling for the bartender.

The two did several more shot until Tommy left her to go talk to some girls. She sat alone at the bar, drinking a little slower now and ignoring any guy that tried to check her out. Most left her alone, but a few got brave enough to try to talk to her, but she shot them all down and sent them on their way. She had just told one to get lost, when she noticed someone sit down beside her.

Thinking it was the guy she just sent away, she sighed, then said,"ok guy who needs a clue, I said leave me alone." She turned her head to look at the guy, then chuckled when she saw it wasn't the guy from before, but a smiling Oliver. "Oh, hey, Ollie." She said happily, as she rested her elbow on the bar and placed her chin in her hands to stare at him with a dreamy look on her face.

"Hey, man killer." Oliver said with a laugh. "Having fun?" He asked.

"Oh, yeah, the best." Meredith answered sarcastically, then added,"I just love being hit on by random guys who can't take a hint."

"I think it's the dress." Oliver joked. He tried not to check her out, but couldn't stop himself, thankfully she didn't see it, as she chuckled at his comment and took a sip from the glass she was drinking from. He leaned toward her, as he took the glass from her hand and sat it aside, then whispered in her ear,"have I told you yet that you look beautiful tonight? Cause you do, Mere-Bear."

Meredith turned her head to the side to look at him, their faces only inches apart. She thought back to her talk with Tommy earlier and glanced down at his lips, wondering if she should take his advice and just go for it. She bit her bottom lip then looked back into his eyes, she opened her mouth but before she could say a word, they heard the music turn off as Detective Lance and several more cops walked into the room, stopping the party.

Oliver grabbed her hand, as the two stood up and made their way over toward Lance, who was talking to Tommy at the moment.

"Detective! It's a private party." Oliver announced, as he and Meredith stood beside Tommy.

"Yeah? Well, there was an incident at Adam Hunt's building tonight." Lance said, then asked,"you know anything about that?"

"Who's Adam Hunt?" Oliver asked with a shrug.

"He's a millionaire bottom feeder, and I'm kind of surprised you aren't friends." Lance said back.

"I've been out-of-town for ... a while." Oliver said sarcastically.

"Yeah. Well, he just got attacked by the guy with the hood, the guy that saved your ass the other day." Lance said.

"Wow, you are still looking for the hood guy?" Meredith asked, then added before he could answer,"maybe the problem, Detective Lance, is you're looking for the wrong person." She paused for a moment, then added,"now if I have done my research right, and I know I have cause I am damn good at my job, unlike other people..." She shot a look at Lance, then continued,"Adam Hunt, is not a good man, at all. The bad things he has done could fill up a book. So if someone attacked him, maybe he had it coming."

Lance narrowed his eyes at her, as he said,"that's not how the law works Ms. Logan. In the eyes of the law, Mr. Hunt is innocent. He is an innocent man who has just been attacked by a killer. A killer we need to find before he strikes again."

"I'm gonna offer a reward." Oliver spoke up and said. He turned around to face the crowd, as he yelled out,"hey, everybody. $2 million to anybody that can find a nut bar in a green hood."

As the crowd began to cheer, Oliver turned back around to face Lance, who took a step closer to Oliver, as he asked,"did you even try to save her?"

Meredith reached out to grab Oliver's hand, seeing the look in his eyes. She knew he felt guilty about Sara and wasn't going to let Sara's father make him feel even worst.

"Maybe you should have done a better job and kept her off the boat." Meredith snapped at him.

Lance took a deep breath and slowly released it, he wasn't going to do this. He wasn't going to argue with her, he wasn't going to lose his cool. He looked at the younger girl before him, as he simply said,"or maybe he should have asked someone else and left my family alone."

Meredith softly gasped at his comment. Something she didn't talk about often was the fact that Oliver did ask someone else. He had asked her, but she turned him down and they argued, which was why he asked Sara to go in her place. Even though her and Sara were never close, she still felt guilty for that. Deep down it wasn't her fault and on some level she knew that, but she couldn't help but think that if she had gone, he never would have invited Sara and the younger girl would be alive.

Oliver squeezed her hand, knowing what was running through her mind. He knew she was thinking of that day and was beating herself up about it, but she shouldn't be. In all honestly he never should have asked either girl to go with him on the Queen's Gambit.

Without another word, Meredith dropped Oliver's hand as she turned and walked away. Oliver looked over at Lance, seeing his partner pulling him away, which was fine with him. He was done with this conversation. Right now, all he wanted to do was check on Meredith.

He yelled out to get the party going again, then turned to walk away, until Tommy stopped him and said,"some coincidence, I mean, you asking to have your party here, and Hunt getting robbed right next door and by the same guy who rescued us at the warehouse."

"If I were you, Tommy, I'd just be glad you're alive." Oliver pointed out.

"What happened to you on that island?" Tommy questioned.

"A lot." Oliver simply answered. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to find Meredith and I have a feeling I know exactly where she's going to be." He added, as he gave Tommy a nod, as if to tell him '_bye_', then walked past him to get to the bar, figuring that was where she would be and he was right.

He walked up behind her, taking the glass from her hand then turned her around to face him. He grabbed her by the chin, forcing her to look at him, as he said,"it's not your fault, Mere."

"I don't want to talk... I wanna- I want to go home." Meredith said, as she pulled away from him and tried to walk pass him until he lightly grabbed her arm to stop her.

"Not alone." Oliver said, then added,"you've had way too much to drink tonight. You are not going home alone."

"Oliver, I .."

"Not alone." Oliver repeated, as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her toward him.

The two walked through the crowd together and met up with Diggle at the entrance, then made their way outside and to the cars. Oliver drove Meredith's car, with her sitting beside him, while Diggle was in the other car, the car he had arrived in earlier, following behind them.

When he arrived at her apartment, he told Diggle to wait for him, as he walked her to her apartment door and helped her inside. She kicked off her high heels as she walked through her living room, then laid out on the couch, on her stomach, with a groan. She really should have listened to Oliver and stopped drinking way earlier in the night. She was going to feel like crap the next morning.

Oliver walked into the kitchen, petting Jager as he passed by him, then he made his way to the refrigerator. He grabbed a bottle of water, then walked back into the living room and over to the couch. He kneeled down in front of her, softly calling out her name, as he held out the bottle to her.

Meredith sat up on the couch with a groan, as she took the bottle from him and drank half of it in one swallow. He sat down beside her on the couch, throwing an arm on the back of the couch, as he leaned back, getting comfortable.

"How are you feeling?" Oliver asked her.

"I feel like... I feel like I should have said yes." Meredith said, barely above a whisper.

"What?" Oliver asked, as he looked over at her with a confused look.

Meredith turned to look at him, as she said,"when you asked me to go, I should have said yes. Then Sara never would have went and she would be alive."

Oliver shook his head as he sat up. He took one of her hands, holding it in his, as he said,"don't do that, Mere. Don't take that guilt on."

"Why?" Meredith questioned, then added,"it's true. Plus I guarantee that you are feeling all the guilt from her death and you don't need to Oliver, I'm just to blame."

"No, you're not." Oliver argued. "I never should have asked her or you to go. Hell I shouldn't have even been on there, but I was running away as usual and I wanted you there to help make me feel better about myself cause I knew how you felt. I knew you would be good for my ego and I just... I needed that. I needed to use someone so I asked and thank God you said no. Knowing what I know now, I wish she would have too." He added, as he lowered his head, feeling that ever present guilt.

"I can understand why she did go. A part of me wanted to say yes so badly when you asked me." Meredith said, then added,"but I didn't want to be just some girl to you, another notch in your belt, I wanted to be with you, Ollie. I wanted every part of you and I still ..."

"You still what?" Oliver asked, raising him head to look at her when she paused.

Meredith scooted closer to him on the couch. She nervously reached up to rest her hands on either side of his face, as she whispered,"I still do. I still want all of you, my feelings haven't changed,Oliver. They haven't changed."

Oliver stared at her, feeling his heart pound, those were the words he had always hoped he would hear from her. He just hated that he couldn't tell her he felt the same about her.

She watched him for a moment, figuring she had went this far, might as well go all the way, then leaned forward to press her lips against his. She kept them pressed against his for a moment, but when he didn't respond, she went to pull back, until he laid his hand on the back of her head, keeping her there as he moved his lips against hers hungrily.

He didn't get to dream much on the island, but when he did, this is what he dreamed of. Kissing her like this and feeling his whole body come alive. He groaned when he felt her nibble on his bottom lip, causing him to attack her lips again.

He was lost in the moment until he heard her softly say his name, causing him to pull back, as the two stared at each other and tried to catch their breath.

"Did uh, did you feel that? Oliver, please, tell me you felt that just like I did?" Meredith questioned, then softly added,"there is something here, I felt it."

"Mere..." Oliver breathed out, knowing he was going to have to break her heart and hated himself for it. "I... you know you're important to me. You know I care about you, but... but not like that." He added so quietly, a part of him hoped she didn't even hear it, but she did. By the broken look on her face, he knew she did.

"Oh." Meredith whispered, as she stood up from the couch, with her back toward him, as she flashed back to years ago when she told him how she felt. His speech was a lot like the one he just said.

"Meredith ... I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..." Oliver began to say, as he stood up and reached out for her.

She pulled away from him and took a deep breath, holding back the tears, as she turned around to face him with a small smile on her face. She shook her head, then said,"it's ok, you don't have to explain. I know how this goes, I've heard it all before but don't worry, we're still friends."

"Mere ..."

"Good night, Oliver." Meredith said, interrupting him, as she turned and walked to her bed room, shutting the door and ending the conversation.

_- {o0o} -_

_a/n - hey all! Hope you liked the chapter. I feel like it was all over the place but there was so much I wanted to cover. Thank you to everyone reading and/or adding the story. I'm so happy people are liking it! Big thank to Hanna West, highlander348, RHatch89, xxxRena, mellbell12123, Totter4, winchesterxgirl, hayden, Camile0607, LiquidLuck007, Cooky Crumbia and cc for reviewing. Don't forget you can follow me on tumblr. At some point {hopefully soon} I plan to do a video for this story and a mix of songs that remind me of it, and those will be posted on tumblr. You can also follow me on polyvore. I have a couple of outfits on there for Meredith and hope to do more. Thanks again and happy reading!_


	4. Talk To Me

_**Chapter Four - Talk To Me  
**_

* * *

It had been a couple of days since the kiss. The mind-blowing kiss and then the rejection. Meredith shouldn't have been surprised, and actually she wasn't, she was disappointed and humiliated though. She did her best not to think about it, just throw herself into work, and it worked for a few minutes, then she went back to thinking about the kiss. The perfect kiss that she could still feel from her head to her toes days later, but she had to stop thinking about it. Nothing was going to happen, hence the rejection.

Oliver only saw her as a friend, which is what he said years ago, why did she think now would be different?

She let Tommy and mostly Jayde get in her head, convincing her something was there and it was different this time, but it wasn't. It would never be different. He would never see her differently and she just had to accept that, which she did, but she didn't like it.

"Meredith!" She heard her boss, Donnie, call out, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Uh, yeah.. um what do you need?" Meredith asked, as she quickly stood from her desk, trying to act like she wasn't just slacking and doing nothing. She knew how much he hated that.

"I need you with a camera and a notebook at the courthouse now." Donnie stated, then turned to walk away until she spoke up and stopped him.

"Um, can I ask why?" She questioned.

"Today is Oliver Queen's proof-of-life declaration." Donnie answered, then added,"people love this Queen guy, they love reading about the miracle of a billionaire coming back to life, and since you did so well on the last article about him, I thought I would give you this one too."

"Thanks, Donnie." Meredith said, speechless. She couldn't believe that not only was her giving her another article but he also complimented her on her last one. That almost never happened. She just wished it wasn't about Oliver. It was hard to get him off her mind when even at work , her safe haven, she had to write about him and see him.

Donnie nodded his head at her, as if to say, '_you're welcome'_, then turned to walk away. He had only taken a few steps, when Meredith came to and followed along behind him, as she said,"but are you sure I should be the one doing this? I mean, maybe someone else should and I can do another story?"

"You know, Meredith, I just don't get you." Donnie began to say, as he came to a stop, causing her to bump into him. He turned around to face her then continued,"you bitch and moan for a story constantly and I finally give you one, yet here you are, still bitching."

"I'm sorry, it's just ..."

"It's nothing. You do the job or you find another job." Donnie said, interrupting her.

Meredith's mouth opened and shut a few times, wanting to argue about it more, but didn't know what to say. He was right, she had begged for a story, but did it have to be about Oliver? She wasn't sure if she could face him yet.

"So are you doing the job? Are am I looking for your replacement today?" Donnie asked her.

Meredith took a deep breath then slowly released it as she said."I'm doing the job."

"Good." Donnie said with a smile, happy he won this fight. Before either one could say anything else, Katie walked over to him, handing him a cup of coffee and a chocolate donut like she did every morning to suck up to him. He smiled at her, his eyes roaming over her body. He took a bite of his donut, then looked over at Meredith as he said,"and take Katie with you."

"What?" Meredith silently breathed out, as she looked from Donnie to the excited girl beside him. He gave her a look, basically telling her to do what he said and not to screw it up, then walked off, leaving her alone with Katie.

"Oh, my God! Do we have a job? Did he give us an assignment?" Katie asked excitedly.

"Someone shoot me." Meredith mumbled quietly to herself, as she turned around and walked back over to her desk to grab her things. She didn't think things could get worst, but, boy was she wrong.

_- {o0o} -_

Several minutes later, Meredith was standing on the outside of the crowd, with all the other journalist and reports waiting on Oliver to arrive. Katie stood beside her, chattering away about whatever crossed her mind, but Meredith wasn't in a talking mood. Not only cause she wasn't ready to face him, but also cause it made her sick seeing all the people just waiting to get a piece of him. To invade his space and do whatever to tell his story rather he wanted it told or not, and the worst part, she was right there along with them and she hated it.

She saw the car pull up at the curb then saw him step out, causing her heart to beat in her chest. Why did he have to look so good after turning her down the other night? She was so lost in thought, following him with her eyes, she never got around to snapping any pictures as he walked into the building with his family, Tommy and his bodyguard.

"Hello? Are you there?" Katie said, trying to get her attention. She snapped a finger in front of her face, as she called out,"earth to Mere-Mere!"

"Yeah, what?" Meredith asked, as she finally looked away from the door he walked in, then turned to look at the blonde beside her.

"You didn't get any pictures." Katie pointed out with a giggle.

"Right, yeah, I figured I would just take some as he is leaving. Who cares about when he arrives, right?" Meredith said with a chuckle, trying to cover up her mistake.

"Ok! Well, guess we should go in then." Katie said.

"Yeah, let's go in." Meredith said, as they made their way toward the building and walked inside.

She walked into the room, seeing Oliver standing at the front of the room, with his family and friends sitting behind him. A big part of her wanting to be sitting up there with them, letting Oliver know she there, but another part of her wanting to hide in the back, the latter part won, as she sat in the last row and watched as he began to speak about the boat going down, about his father not making it and how he was on a raft for days before he saw land.

She sniff and reached up to wipe at her eyes, not even realizing she had began to cry in the middle of his speech, just hearing what he had to go through, how close all of them came to losing him for good, broke her heart.

As the lawyer stood up to speak, she too, stood up and made her way out of the room, she had heard enough.

She made her way to the restrooms, just needing a minute alone to get her emotions in order. She stared at herself in the mirror, a few more tears rolling down her cheeks, then she splashed some water on her face and grabbed some paper towels to dry her face off. She looked inside her bag, thankful she had tossed her make-up bag in there, and did a quick touch up before making her way out of the restroom, seeing that Katie was waiting for her.

"You ok?" Katie asked with a concern look on her face.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Meredith answered.

"Well, the thingy is over." Katie said, not remembering what it was called. She handed Meredith a small notebook then said,"but I took notes after you left."

"Um, thanks." Meredith said, as she glanced at it before putting it in her bag.

"Oh, there's Oliver, we should talk to him before he leaves. For the article." Katie suggested, as she nodded her head toward him.

"No, it's ok." Meredith said, not in the mood to talk to him now. "I can always call him later for a quote or something." She added. She saw Katie shooting her a confused look from the corner of her eye. She turned her head and explained,"we grew up together. We're friends."

"Shut up!" Katie said with a gasp, as she slapped Meredith's arm. "You never told me you two were friends." She added, as she looked over at Oliver for a moment, who was staring at Meredith with a smile on his face, just noticing she was there. She turned back to look at Meredith, with a knowing smile, as she said,"I would have guessed more than friends."

Meredith looked over at Oliver, seeing him look away, then looked back at Katie as she said,"nope, just friends."

"But you wish you were more." Katie guessed, as she looked between the two again.

"No, what I wish, is to not have this conversation." Meredith said, as she flashed Katie a tight smile.

Katie laughed then looked back over at Oliver, seeing him and his friend talking to another woman, who had two other woman with her. "Who's that?" She questioned, as she nodded her head at the group.

Meredith looked over at them, then said,"the one talking to Oliver is Laurel, his ex. The other two, I don't know, I guess co-workers?"

"She's got major bitch face going on right now." Katie stated, not liking Laurel already. "I don't see those two getting back together, ever." She added.

"I wouldn't count on it." Meredith said, as she watched them, but tried to act like she wasn't. "This is actually normal behavior for them. I've seen it happen a million of times." She added sadly, as they watched Laurel, and the two woman with her, walk away.

Before either girl could say anything else, Tommy turned his head, seeing Meredith for the first time and called out to her. He waved for her to come over, then yelled at her again when she shook her head. She lowered her head with a chuckle when people started watching them. Leave it to Tommy to be as loud and as obnoxious as possible.

Getting tired of yelling at her across the room, Tommy finally jogged over to her, wrapping his arms around her to give her a big hug, as he said,"hey, when did you get here? You should have sat with us."

"I would have, but it was already starting when I got here." Meredith answered.

"Well either way, I'm glad you are here and I know Oliver is too." Tommy said, as he kissed the side of her head and finally released her.

"He's right, I am." Oliver said, walking up to them. He hugged Meredith close, then whispered in her ear,"I really am glad you are here, Mere."

Meredith gave him a small smile, then stepped back, breaking the hug. She glanced over at Katie, then looked back at the guys, as she said,"you two remember my co-worker Katie?"

"It's nice to meet you, Katie." Oliver said, as he shook her hand.

Afterwards, while Tommy shook her hand, Oliver looked over at Meredith as he asked,"so, you're here for work?"

"Yeah." Meredith answered, as a guilty look came over her face. She hated that she had to do this story on him. Which is what she told him, as she apologized, but he just shook his head and held up a hand to stop her.

"It's ok, Mere. I would rather it be you than anyone else." Oliver said. He knew his return from the dead was a big story and everyone wanted to tell it, and he actually felt better knowing she would be the one doing it.

Meredith softly smiled at him, happy that he wasn't disgusted by her digging into his personal life.

The small group stood around, quietly talking until Diggle walked up, interrupting them, telling Oliver they better leave before the crowd outside gets any bigger. Meredith had planned to tell Oliver and Tommy '_bye_' and make her way back to work, but before she could say a word, Oliver laid a hand on the small of her back, leading her toward the door.

When they made it outside, they saw that the reporters, thankfully, were talking to someone else. Making Oliver think maybe he could get lucky and sneak past everyone, He went to take a step in the direction of the car until he noticed Meredith wasn't walking with him. He turned back to see her taking out her camera and begin snapping pictures of the man the reporters were talking to.

"What are you doing?" Oliver questioned, as he watched her snap a few more pictures.

"Do you have any idea who that is?" Meredith said back, then added before he could answer,"it's Martin Somers." She snapped a few more pictures, then said,"you know, rumor has it, he has ties to the Chinese Triad, helping them smuggle drugs into the city, and he allegedly had one of his employees killed for threatening to tell the police on him."

"Maybe you shouldn't be taking his picture then." Oliver suggested, as he placed his hand on the camera, lowering it before she could take another picture. The last thing he wanted was her getting on Martin's bad side.

"I'm here. He's here." Meredith argued, as she pulled her camera away from him, then added,"might as well do a story while I am."

"Mere.." Oliver began to say, wanting to warn her, but before he could, the reporters spotted them and began making their way toward the group, yelling out questions to him again.

He wrapped an arm around Meredith's waist, keeping her close to him, as the group made their way through the crowd. Diggle kept them from Oliver the best he could, even threaten a few while he did. Oliver opened the back door, ushering Meredith inside the car, then sat down beside her. While the rest of the group were outside with the crowd of reporters, Oliver climbed over the seat and cranked the car before speeding away.

Meredith turned in the seat, looking out the back window, seeing them get further and further from the courthouse and all the people standing around, including Tommy, her co-worker Katie and Oliver's bodyguard Diggle.

"Ollie? What are you doing?" Meredith called out, as she turned her head back toward the front. She held on to the back of the seat, as he quickly turned a corner to get away.

"You can come up here you know." Oliver suggested, as he nodded his head toward the passenger seat.

"With the way you are driving? No thank you." Meredith said.

Oliver took his foot off the gas, feeling the car slowing down, then nodded over to the seat again, letting her know it was safe now. She quickly crawled over the seat and sat down in the passenger side. She had just put on her seat belt, when he hit the gas again and they began to drive down the road.

"So, are you ever going to tell me what the hell you are doing?" Meredith asked, then added,"you do realize you just left your best friend and bodyguard behind."

"I just needed to get out of there." Oliver answered.

"Understandable, but why am I here?" Meredith asked confused.

"Cause I needed you." Oliver admitted, as he glanced over at her for a moment with a small smile, before he laid a hand on her knee, giving it a squeeze.

"To stroke your ego?" Meredith questioned, remembering the night before when he said that was the reason he invited her to go on the boat with him back then. He needed someone to make him feel better. She moved her leg aside, as she added,"cause just so you know, I'm not here to stroke that or anything else."

"So you remember." Oliver softly said, as he laid his hand back on the steering wheel. He thought she would be drunk enough to forget their kiss. He shook his head with a sigh, then began to apologize, until she spoke up and interrupted him.

"I told you, you don't have to explain. I know how it goes, we've been here before, Oliver." Meredith said. She paused for a moment, then continued,"you know at first I thought about pretending I forgot. That I was too drunk to remember, but I'm not doing that. That makes it seem like I am ashamed of the way I feel, but I'm not. I will never feel ashamed for caring about you, Ollie."

He pulled up to a stop sign, stopping the car, then looked over at her. There was so much he wanted to say back to her, but couldn't. He wanted her to know how much he cared for her and he wasn't ashamed of those feelings either, but he couldn't. He had to keep her at arm's length which was becoming harder and harder to do.

Meredith glanced around for a moment, seeing that they were in the Glades and not far from her work. She opened the car door, then looked back at Oliver as she said,"If you ever need a friend, I am here for you. But I am _not_ going to be just some girl to you. I refuse to be that girl."

Without another word, she stepped out of the car and began to walk down the sidewalk. She heard the driver side door open, then heard Oliver call out her name, but she ignored it, as she continued on toward the building she worked in. In her opinion there was nothing else to say now.

_- {o0o} -_

Later that night, she was at home, sitting at the kitchen table, that was really used for a desk, as she typed out an article. She was close to being finished when she heard her cell phone going off. She picked it up from the table, seeing that it was Oliver, then sat it back down. That wasn't the first time he had tried to call her since she left him that afternoon.

Just like earlier, she didn't have anything else to say right now. It's not that she wanted to ignore him, she just needed a little time to get her feelings in order, start getting over him and try to see him as only a friend.

She had just typed out a few more sentences when she heard her phone go off again. She picked it up and saw it was Tommy calling this time. She honestly shouldn't have been surprised.

She rolled her eyes then answered the phone with a annoyed,"yeah?"

"Is that any way to greet your best friend?" Tommy joked.

"Oh, what was I thinking." Meredith said back sarcastically. "Hello, my very best friend, Tommy Merlyn, how are you doing tonight?" She added.

"You are such a smart-ass, you know that right?" Tommy said with a laugh.

"I learned from the best." Meredith said back, referring to him and Oliver.

Tommy laughed at her comment, then the two fell into a silence, until she sighed and asked,"so, is Oliver with you?"

"No, Oliver is not with me." Tommy answered.

"But he told you to call me?" Meredith questioned.

"No, Oliver is not with me." Tommy repeated with a laugh. He heard her laugh back, then he added,"but, yeah, he might have mentioned he tried to call you and you didn't answer."

"Uh-huh. Of course he did." Meredith said, not at all surprised that Oliver asked Tommy to check in with her. It was actually normal of them to do that, they would do it all the time when they were younger and she was fighting with one of them, the other one would always call and get involved with whatever was going on at the time.

"So what's going on?" Tommy asked, trying to get to the bottom of the problem.

"Just working." Meredith answered, avoiding the real question.

"You know that's not what I meant." Tommy said asked, then added,"what's going on with you and Oliver?"

"Nothing." Meredith said, then added,"and like I said, I'm busy, so ..."

"Have you eaten? We should grab something to eat." Tommy suggested, knowing he had to act fast before she hung up on him.

Meredith glanced over beside her, seeing the carton of ice cream she was eating from earlier, then said,"yeah, I ate."

"Something other than ice cream?" Tommy asked with a laugh.

"You don't know me, Tommy Boy." Meredith said, laughing.

"Oh yes I do, Merri Berry." Tommy said back, using his old nickname for her.

Meredith opened her mouth to say something else until she heard a knock at the door. She lowered her eyebrows in confusion, wondering who was at her place this late. She got up from the table, making her way toward the front door, then opened it, seeing Tommy on the other side with her favorite, chinese food.

"Let's eat." Tommy said, as he pulled the phone from his ear and ended the call.

A few minutes later, the two were sitting on the couch, eating a few bites from the take out box, then switching boxes with each other and taking a few more bites, before grabbing new boxes from the coffee table and switching out those. It was something they have done for years. Get a bunch of different stuff and split it.

"So, are you ever going to tell me what is going on with you and Oliver?" Tommy asked, as he took a bite of food.

Meredith shook her head, then asked,"you want to tell me what is going on with you and Laurel?"

"Touche." Tommy mumbled, then said,"I'll make you a deal. I'll tell you about my Laurel problem if you tell me about your Oliver problem."

"Why do I have the feeling that you already know about my Oliver problem and you're just here to get my side of the story." Meredith pointed out, as she shot him a look.

"Cause you know me just as well as I know you." Tommy said back, as he shoved another bite of food in his mouth.

"So he told you?" Meredith asked, as she sat her food down, her appetite now gone.

"Not much, but some." Tommy answered, then added,"so you two kissed?"

"He told you that?" Meredith asked in shock.

"Well, no. He didn't, but I know have much you care for him, and with having him in your life again, plus I know how horny you are when you are drunk ..."

"I am not!" Meredith called out, as she playfully slapped him in the stomach.

"Yeah, you are. You almost made out with me one time you were so horny." Tommy said laughing.

"You are such a liar. I never did that." Meredith argued, then added,"you are the one who gets grabby with me when you have whiskey. I can't count the number of times I've had to slap you when you grabbed my ass and try to shove your tongue down my throat."

"That never hap- ..." Tommy began to say, then paused for a moment to think about it, before correcting himself,"that only happened once or twice."

"More like one or two hundred times." Meredith said back with a laugh.

Once the laughter died down, Tommy sat the box down, then looked over at her, as he softly said,"I'm sorry, Mere."

"It's ok. I do have a nice ass. You're not the first one to touch it." Meredith joked, as she laid her head back against the couch and stretched out her legs, laying them across Tommy's lap.

"No, not that." Tommy said with a laugh, then quickly added,"whoa, wait, who's been touching your ass?"

Meredith didn't say anything, as she rolled her head to the side and shot him a look. A look he instantly recognized, the one telling him to mind his business or else.

In the past, Tommy and Oliver had always been protective when it came to her and dating. In the years that Oliver was gone, Tommy became even more protective, if that was even possible, and ran off a lot of her dates. She finally told him if he ran off one more guy, she was going to start messing up his chances with girls. He thought she was lying until she ran up to him in a club one night, slapped him and announced to the girls around him that they shouldn't date him. She told a very convincing sob story, resulting in all the girls shooting him dirty looks as they babied her for the rest of the night.

Needless to say, after that he learned his lesson.

"Right. It's none of my business. Sorry." Tommy said, as he held up his hands, then continued,"but what I was apologizing for is, I'm sorry I told you to go after Oliver the other night."

"It's ok. It's not your fault. Like you said, I get overly affectionate when I'm drunk ..."

"Correction, I said, horny." Tommy interrupted.

"Like I said, overly affectionate." She said, ignoring what he said. "I was bound to make a fool of myself with him, might as well do it now than later." She added with a shrug.

"I'm sure it wasn't that bad." Tommy argued.

"Oh, trust me, it was bad." Meredith said back, as she remembered that night. How she practically attacked him with her lips, then had to hear a similar speech from the past, about how he wasn't interested in her. It was extremely embarrassing.

"You should still talk to him." Tommy suggested.

"I know, and I will, I just need a little time." Meredith said.

Tommy nodded his head in understanding, then said,"just don't take too long. We lost him for five years Mere, I know you don't want to lose any more with him."

Meredith laid her head back on the couch, thinking about what he said. The two were quiet for a moment, until she looked over at him and asked,"so what's going on with you and Laurel?"

Tommy sighed, as he laid his head back, then said,"honestly not a lot. In her eyes, everything that happened between us was just a lapse of judgement. A mistake."

"Well, we both know that's not how you feel. Question is, have you told her that?" Meredith asked. Once Tommy began having feelings for Laurel, there wasn't many people he could talk to about it, so he went to his best friend, her.

Tommy shook his head then said,"it doesn't matter. She knows I'm not a one-girl type of guy."

"Ok that is bullshit and we both know it." Meredith said, as she sat up. "I know how much you care about her. I know you would give it all up to be with her. All the parties, the girls, one night stands, all of it. You should tell her that."

Tommy ran his hands over his face with a sigh. He knew she was right, he knew he should keep trying, but you can only be turned down so many times before you just give up. He knew she understood that better than anyone.

"It's hard being just a footnote in the Laurel/Oliver love story." Tommy mumbled.

"Don't I know it." Meredith said back, as she laid back against the couch.

"I'll make you a deal." Tommy said, as he looked over at her, before continuing,"I'll try again with Laurel, if you talk to Oliver." He held up his fist, as he asked,"deal?"

Meredith thought about it for a moment, then bumped her fist against his as she said,"deal."

_- {o0o} -_

_a/n - hey all! Hope you liked the chapter. I am so happy that people are liking this story! Thank you to everyone reading and/or adding the story. Also big thanks to Iris RainbowWolf, Hanna West, RHatch89, winchesterxgirl, mellbell12123, highlander348, LiquidLuck007, WinterRain36, cc, hayden, xxxRena, Spirit Kiss and wrong. perfection for reviewing.  
_

_p/s -I wanted to let you all know that my friend, Iris RainbowWolf, has posted her arrow story. The character Jayde belongs to her and the story is about Jayde with some Meredith mixed in. Check it out!  
_


	5. Melty Goodness

_**Chapter Five - Melty Goodness  
**_

* * *

The next day, Meredith was typing away, sitting at her desk at work. She had finished the article on Oliver the night before and turned it in that day, now she was working on an article about Martin Somers. She was actually surprised that Donnie agreed to letting her do the story, but he did. Instead it was Martin's people trying to stop her.

She called his lawyer for a quote and a chance to interview Martin, not long after that the paper began to receive numerous anonymous calls and emails, telling her she needed to mind her business. She thought Donnie would pull the plug on her story, but instead it made him even more excited for it. He lived for drama like this.

Since she couldn't talk to Martin, she knew the next best person to talk to.

With that thought in mind, she gathered up her stuff, and left the office. She made her way down the sidewalk, then cut across the street to get to the CNRI building, where Laurel worked. She glanced around the room, seeing Laurel busy at work, then made her way over toward her, calling out a friendly greeting.

"Meredith? What are you doing here?" Laurel asked surprised. She couldn't remember a time Meredith visited her at work.

"I'm doing a story on Martin, trying to expose him for who he really is and I know you're the doing the same. I was wondering if there was anything you could tell me." Meredith questioned.

"Honestly, I can't tell you a lot, cause of the case. I wish I could though. I want nothing more than to expose him to everyone." Laurel answered. "The little bit I can tell you is on here." She added, as she handed Meredith a sheet of paper. Unfortunately all that was on it was things she already knew.

"I understand. Thanks." Meredith said, as she turned to walk away, until Laurel called out her name to stop her.

"How are you doing?" Laurel asked, then added,"I mean with Ollie being back and all."

"I'm great." Meredith said with a smile. "Sometimes I feel like it's a dream, you know, I can't believe he's back." She added.

"But?" Laurel asked, feeling like there was more she wanted to add.

"But... sometimes I wonder what Oliver came back." Meredith continued. "Sometimes I see the old Oliver, the one I've known all my life and other times, it's like he's someone new."

"Yeah, he tried to tell me the island didn't change him, but it did, he's different now and he's trying hard to push me away, which is probably for the best." Laurel said.

"But?" Meredith asked this time, knowing there was more to say.

"But I wanted to tell you, don't let him push you away. He needs someone Mere, he might not think he does, but he does and that person can't be me anymore." Laurel said. She thought for a moment, before adding,"actually I don't know if that person ever was me. In a way I think it was always you. You are the one who could always reach him and he needs that now. Don't give up on him."

"Sounds like someone has been talking to Tommy." Meredith pointed out, with a knowing smile.

Laurel lowered her head with a chuckle. She looked up at Meredith, as she said,"he just thought maybe you would listen to me. You know, woman to woman."

"Well I better get back to work." Meredith said with a nod, as she turned to walk away. She had only taken a few steps when she turned around to face Laurel again, before saying,"oh, hey, woman to woman? Give Tommy a chance. He just might surprise you."

Meredith flashed her a smile, then turned and walked out of the building, heading back to work. As she walked down the sidewalk she felt like someone was following her, causing her to glance over her shoulders a few times and picking up her steps.

When she passed by an alley right before getting to her building, she felt a chill down her spine, like someone was watching her, causing her to come to a stop. She turned around, looking for... actually she wasn't sure what she was looking for, someone creepy maybe? Something to explain why she felt like her skin was crawling.

She took a few steps toward the building, planning to peek down the alley, but before she could, she felt someone lay a hand on her shoulder, causing her to gasp as she quickly turned around. She laid her hand on her chest and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw it was her co-worker, Katie.

"Jeez, Katie! You scared the shit out of me." Meredith snapped, as she stepped around the girl and headed for the office building.

"I'm sorry!" Katie called out, as she racing along behind her. As the two entered the building, she added,"Donnie was looking for you and I saw you out the window so I thought I would come get you. I swear I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's ok." Meredith said, waving it off.

She walked to her desk, seeing slips of paper with messages she missed while she was gone. She reached out to grab them, but before she could, Katie grabbed them, as she said,"you don't want to read those."

"More threats?" Meredith questioned.

Katie nodded her head to answer then tossed the papers into the trash.

Meredith softly sighed, as she watched the pieces of papers fall into the trash can. She couldn't believe all the threats she was getting over one little story. It made her realize she was right about Martin. An innocent person wouldn't act the way he was.

"Donnie said you should go home for the day. So you can do your story without distractions." Katie said, letting her know why Donnie was looking for her.

"I think that's a good idea." Meredith said, grabbing her purse from under the desk. She heard the phone ringing, with what she guessed was another threat, causing her to add,"yeah, that's a very good idea."

After telling everyone '_bye_', she left the building and made her way toward the parking garage behind the building. She walked inside, heading for the back row, where she had parked that morning, than paused when she heard something.

She glanced around, not seeing anything, then shook her head, quietly laughing to herself. She was really paranoid today.

She continued to walk toward her car until she heard something again, this time it was something she couldn't ignore, it was footsteps.

Seeing her car up ahead, she quickened her steps, trying to get to her car as fast as possible, but before she could make it, she felt someone grab her by her hair and pulled her toward them. She tried to scream out but a hand covered her mouth before she could.

She felt the person pulling her backwards, making her fear that she was being kidnapped again, but she refused to go easy this time. With that thought in mind, she bit down on the person's hand as hard as she could.

The person, who she now realized was a male by his tone of voice, yelled out in pain. He spun her around to slap her across the face and knock her to the ground, her forehead hitting the cement.

She cried out as she rolled over on to her back, looking up at her attacker. She wasn't sure who he was, but if she had to guess, he was from the Chinese Triad, sent by Martin to take her out.

When she saw him lean down to grab her, she screamed out and rolled over, trying to crawl away from him and toward her purse, which had fallen from her hands when he grabbed her the first time. When she reached the purse, she quickly opened it and dug around in it, her fingers wrapping around the weapon she was looking for, right as she felt him grab her ankle, pulling her toward him.

She kicked out with her other leg, trying to get away from him, but when that didn't work, she quickly flipped over and held up the taser in her hand, placing it against his stomach, and sending electrical currents through his body.

He cried out in pain and fell to the ground, as she heard the sound of sirens heading her way. Thankfully someone heard her screams and called for help.

Meredith looked down at the taser in her hand, the one she decided to start carrying after the first kidnapping, then looked at the man still on the ground in pain. She took a few steps backwards, until her back hit a car, then she slide down, sitting on the ground with her legs pulled up, as she waited for the cops to arrive.

It was over and she was ok. This time, she was ok.

_- {o0o} -_

After talking to the cops and getting checked over by a paramedic, she went home. She sat at the kitchen table, planning to work on the story, but instead just stared at her laptop. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't place her fingers on the keyboard.

She glanced off to the side, seeing Jager laying on the table, staring at her, as if he was judging her.

"What?" Meredith questioned, then added,"don't look at me like that."

Jager flicked his tail then closed his eyes, going to sleep.

"Weirdo." Meredith mumbled.

She watched him sleep for a moment, until she heard a knock at the door. She looked back over at the cat, seeing that he was still sleeping.

That had to be a good sign, right? If there was some kind of trouble he should be able to sense it, right?

Hearing another knock, she slowly stood up and made her way toward the front door. She looked out the peep hole and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw who it was. She opened the door, with a small smile on her face, as Oliver stood on the other side.

"Hey, I-" Oliver began to say, until he saw the bandage on her forehead and the fear in her eyes. He quickly forgot the prepared speech he had, as he rushed inside the apartment, sitting the bag he was carrying on the table by the door. He placed his hands on either side of her face, and asked,"what happened?"

Seeing the concern in his eyes, she crumbled, the tears she had held back since the attack broke through, as she wrapped her arms around his middle and buried her face in his shirt.

Oliver held her close for a moment, getting more concern for her the more she cried. When she finally started calming down, he carefully pushed her back, getting a good look at her, as he asked again,"Mere, what happened?"

"Martin Somers." Meredith simply said.

Oliver clenched his jaw, trying to hold in his anger, as he asked,"he did this?"

"Not personally, but I think the guy who did was hired by Martin." Meredith explained.

Oliver walked further into the apartment, and made his way over to the couch, sitting down with a sigh as he rubbed his hands over his face.

This is what he was afraid of, someone going after her. In the short time he has been back in town, this was the second time she had been in danger. The first time was cause of him and he couldn't help but fear that this time was his fault too.

Did Martin figure out who he was somehow and went after someone he cared about?

"Why would Martin be after you?" Oliver questioned, hoping it wasn't for the reason he thought.

"I'm doing a story on him." Meredith answered, as she sat down beside him.

"Seriously?" Oliver asked surprised, then added with a hint of anger,"Meredith, you know what kind of man he is, why the hell would you do a story on him?"

"That is the reason I am doing a story on him. This man is responsible for bringing drugs into the city and puts hits out on people who try to go against him or try to stop him. He needs to be stop." Meredith explained.

"Then let someone else stop him." Oliver argued, as he stood up from the couch.

"Like who, the '_hood guy_'?" Meredith asked, watching his reaction to the question.

Oliver shrugged nonchalantly, not giving anything away, as he said,"him or someone. Anyone but you."

Meredith stood up from the couch, folding her arms across her chest, as she said,"you do realize I can take care of myself, right?"

"Says the girl with a band aid on her forehead from her second attack in a week." Oliver pointed out sarcastically.

"I did taser his ass though." Meredith said, feeling proud of herself for fighting back, even if she was scared out of her mind.

"That's my girl." Oliver said with a smile, as he reached out to grab her to pull her toward him. He held her for a moment, needing her in his arms for himself as well as for her. He kissed the side of her head, before whispering out,"I just need you to be careful, Mere."

She pulled back to look at him, shooting him a small smile, as she said,"I will."

The two looked at each other for a moment, until she looked away first. Not wanting to risk making a fool of herself again. She nodded her head toward the paper bag by the door, then asked,"what is that?"

"Ah..." Oliver said, remembering what he brought. He walked over toward the door, grabbing the bag, then walked back over toward her, before continuing,"I knew you were pissed at me-"

"I was never pissed at you, Ollie." Meredith interrupted.

"Well, regardless, you were something at me and I wanted to make it up to you." He began to say, then added,"plus I had a talk with Thea, who reminded me of how closed off I've been and she's right. I need to let someone in, and that person is you, Mere. You're the only one I have ever let completely in, the only one I ever felt like I could be my self with." He paused for a moment to open the bag, sticking his hand in, but not pulling it out yet, as he said,"so I brought a piece offering. Something I've been dreaming of doing with my best friend if I ever made it home."

Meredith couldn't stop a few dirty thoughts filling her mind at his words, but quickly shook them away. She knew something like that was the last thing on his mind.

Without another word, he pulled out a carton of mocha ice cream, her favorite.

She smirked when she saw the carton, a few more dirty thoughts popped in her mind. He lowered his eyebrows, wondering what was going through her mind, but she shook her head, then walked over toward him, grabbing the carton and heading for the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Meredith was sitting on the couch with a bowl of ice cream, while Oliver sat on the floor eating from the carton. He took the last bite, then sat the empty carton down, as he said,"wow. That was just as good as I remember."

"Mm-hm." Meredith mumbled, agreeing with him as she swallowed the last bit of ice cream from her bowl.

"Yeah, I can tell you loved it." Oliver said with a smile, as he lifted himself up and sat down on the couch beside her.

"How?" Meredith asked confused.

"You moan." Oliver answered, feeling a tighten in his pants again as he thought about it.

"I moan?" Meredith asked in disbelief.

"Yeah." Oliver answered, then added,"every time you took a bite, you let out a little moan."

"Did I really?" Meredith asked with a laugh, feeling her face turn red in embarrassment. She laughed again as he nodded his head, answering her question, then said,"I can't help it. It was good."

"Hey, I didn't say there was anything wrong with it." Oliver said with a laugh, as he held up his hands.

"Stop laughing, it's not funny." Meredith said, as she grabbed the spoon from her bowl and hit him on the forehead with it, leaving a trace of ice cream on his face.

"Not cool, Mere. Not cool." Oliver said, as he wiped the ice cream from his face.

"Actually it was cool. Cause it was ice cream. Get it?" Meredith asked with a laugh.

"You dork." Oliver said, as he looked over at her, seeing her threw her head back to laugh. "Yeah, laugh it up. Let's see how you like it." He added, as he wiped some of the ice cream from his fingers on to her nose.

"Ollie!" She called out in surprise.

"Hey, you started it." Oliver said with a laugh, as he leaned forward to grab a napkin to wipe the rest of the ice cream off of his hand.

While he was distracted, Meredith leaned forward, running her fingers in her bowl then ran her fingers across his cheek. He turned his head to look at her, shooting her a look, before reaching into the carton, getting melty ice cream on his fingers and smeared it across her jaw and lips.

The two looked at each other for a moment, before they both quickly scooped up some more melty ice cream and began to smear it across each others face, laughing the whole time.

She reached up to wipe more across his forehead, but he grabbed her wrist to stop her and leaned toward her, causing her to lay back against the couch. He laid on top of her, keeping both wrist above her head to stop her from wiping any more ice cream on him.

The two were so busy laughing that for a moment they didn't realize what kind of position they were in. Oliver realized it first, and tried not to groan as she wiggled around under him trying to get away.

He heard her laughter die down and saw her bite her bottom lip as she looked up at him. She lowered her eyebrows in confusion, unable to read the expression on his face.

Well she knew what the expression looked like, it looked like someone who was very turned on at the moment, but that couldn't be right. He didn't see her that way.

She held her breath as she saw him leaning toward her. He placed his lips against her jaw, tasting the ice cream on her skin, then moved his lips across her jaw and closer to her lips. He kissed the corner of her mouth, then pulled back a little, staring at her lips. He went to press his lips against her when he heard her cell phone vibrating from the table, taking them both by surprise.

Oliver quickly sat up, the moment between them broken. He didn't know if he was thankful or pissed that her phone went off. A part of him wanted to keep his lips on her, but another part of him knew he couldn't do that, and the longer he would have kissed her, the more confused she would have been. He couldn't have slip ups like that again. He had to keep it strictly platonic between them.

With a sigh, Meredith stood up and walked over to the kitchen table, picking up her cell phone, seeing that it was Tommy calling her.

Meredith placed the phone to her ear, but before she could say a word, Tommy began to speak,"Mere. are you ok? Why the hell didn't you call me?"

"I take it you heard about the attack." Meredith said.

"Yeah, but I don't understand why my best friend didn't call me and tell me." Tommy said, feeling hurt. "Are you ok?" He asked.

"Yeah, I'm ok. A little freaked out, but ok." Meredith answered.

"Is it true you tasered him?" Tommy questioned.

"Yep, that is true." Meredith said back with a laugh.

"That's my girl!" Tommy said, laughing back.

"Yeah, that's what Oliver said." Meredith said, as she turned around to look at the man in question.

"Oh, Oliver is there?" Tommy asked, surprised but happy to hear it.

"Yeah." Meredith answered.

"Good. That's good, way to hold up your end of the deal." Tommy said.

"Uh-huh, and have you?" Meredith questioned.

"Not yet, but I will." Tommy promised her. "Well, I'll let you go, call me if you need anything, ok? I'll be there in a heartbeat, you know that." He added.

"I know, thanks, buddy." Meredith said, as she ended the call.

She sat the phone back down on the table, looking over at Oliver, as she said,"that was Tommy."

"I figured." Oliver said back.

Meredith took a few steps toward him, thinking about what almost happened between, and ran her fingers through her hair, which she quickly realized was a huge mistake. She pulled her sticky fingers from her hair with a chuckle, then said,"I need a shower."

"Me too." Oliver said with a secret smile, realizing what he really needed was a cold shower.

"You can use my shower if you want." Meredith suggest. When Oliver nodded his head, accepting her offer, she added,"I'll go take a quick one, then you can take yours, ok?"

"Ok." Oliver said, as he reached forward to grab the remote, planning to watch tv while she was gone.

Meredith began to walked toward her bedroom, then paused for a moment, turning around to face him, as she said,"Ollie, I um, I was wondering if I could ask you something."

"Of course." Oliver said, as he turned around to face her, hoping she wasn't going to bring up what almost happened between them. He wasn't sure if he would be able to hide his feelings from her right now, but thankfully, she had something else on her mind.

"I hate to ask this, but, well... I was wondering, will you stay here with me tonight?" Meredith nervously asked, then quickly added,"it's just after today, I-"

"It's ok. You don't have to explain." Oliver said interrupting her. He smiled at her then said,"I was already planning to stay."

Meredith smiled back, then said with a nod,"thank you, Ollie."

"Anything for you, Mere-Bear." Oliver said back, smiling.

Meredith stood there for a moment, a part of her wanting to ask what the hell just happened between them, but knew there was no point in asking. His explanation wouldn't be what she wanted to hear and would probably just make her feel worst.

She shot him another smile, then turned and walked into the bedroom. Grabbing some pajamas to sleep in, then headed for the bathroom.

A few hours later, once they both took separate showers, washing away all the sticky ice cream, the two were laying in her bed. They had watched some tv and talked until she fell asleep on his chest. He heard her whimpering a few times, figuring she was having bad dreams, and began to run his fingers through her hair, trying to calm her down.

The more he thought about her attack earlier that day, the more angry he became. He had planned to give Martin Somers a chance to confess, but not anymore. Not after he chose to go after someone he cared about. Now he had to stop him, make him pay for all the wrongs he had done.

He looked down at the girl in his arms, her sleep not as restless as before. He hated to leave her, especially after she asked him to stay. He knew that wasn't easy for her to do. She hated asking for help. But he had a job to do thought. He had to stop Martin before he could hurt someone again.

Oliver placed his lips against her skin, softly kissing her forehead, then pulled back and carefully lifted her from his chest to lay her on the bed. He saw her cuddling up to a pillow, as he turned and headed for the bedroom door.

He paused for a moment, turning back to look at her again as he silently promised her he would be back, before turning back around and walking out to door, planning to take Martin down once and for all.

_- {o0o} -_

_a/n - hey all! So sorry it took so long to update this story. Last month I took a few weeks off from writing, just wanted a little break, now I'm trying to get back into writing and was working on a couple of my other stories. There are certain stories I work on the most and this story is on that list so no worries, I am not giving it up. It just might take some time b/t updates, but I will try not to keep you waiting for too long. Thank you to everyone reading and/or adding the story. Also big thanks to winchesterxgirl, Iris RainbowWolf, mellbell12123, LiquidLuck007, hayden, RHatch89, Spirit Kiss, basketballcutie22, wrong. perfection, WinterRain36, Blair Cornelia Deveraux, highlander348, zZhell-butterflyZz, Hope, jasminefiregreen, xxxRena, tooclosefortety, anna becker, kankananime123. Guest and Hanna West for reviewing. Happy reading! _


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